Sonic Adventure: Epic Version
by DarkCloud780
Summary: Basically, trying to remake the Sonic Adventure story, in a much more epic and awesome way  and also with a mix of tragedy in there as well . Please leave a review!
1. Chapter 1

Sonic Adventure: Epic Version

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic of affiliates. He and his friends and his enemies and all that good jazz are owned by SEGA. I do not claim ownership to them, nor am I making this story for profit.**

**Warning: Rated T for violence and some descriptions of excruciating pain (nothing super visual, just the pain part). Please use discretion when viewing.**

Chapter One: Back home

It had been two years since Sonic had left to go on what he would call a "chillaxing" vacation. That is, he was touring the globe, not stopping at any particular spot except to stay the night. During the day, he was usually visible by the thirty foot tall dust cloud that he kicked up behind him as he ran. People would try and catch photos or glimpses of the blue blur as he passed, yet no one had gotten any real photos of the new him. Not until recently, when he finally decided to stop by in a city known as Station Square.

Station Square was s rather large city, seated at the very edge of Emerald Ocean. The ocean itself spanned wide, connecting the continent of Terra to the continent of Mobius, or the largest continent on the actual planet called Mobius. The mobians, usually resembling versions of animals that carried some humanoid features, had been used to being the only race. Recently, however, humans had found the planet and were settling on it, and had made peace with such mobians. They called themselves Terranians, though they were just humans by the standards of just about anyone else.

Station Square itself was perhaps one of the largest cities that the humans lived in. It was also the main city where mobians and humans coexisted in peace and harmony. There were friendships commonly formed between the two races, as well as a few relationships, but nothing real serious. And this was where Sonic returned.

No one knew it at first. A rumor had spread and tongues were wagging about how Sonic had supposedly returned, yet no one truly knew until the night of his return. Some people could hear him, or catch brief glimpses of him, as he leaped from building to building, on his way to a very tall building that was near the coast. He settled on it and now was visible at the edge.

"Heck yes! This is what I'm talking about! Back home after a long time, and things are more lively than they ever have been! I guess that Eggman must have finally settled down?" he said, crossing his arms and looking around at the city below him.

Suddenly, something caught the attention of his ears. Sirens, police sirens. As he looked down, a force of police cars sped along the roads, heading towards the main building in the city. "Or...maybe I'm wrong? I wonder what's got them all frazzled. Usually don't see S.W.A.T cars going somewhere so fast..." he leaped down to ground level and dashed after them.

The cars had stopped in front of the mayor's building. It was a tall, red building with many windows covering the front of it, all of them square. The building had a small parking lot out front, with an entrance inward, guarded by a high wall. The inside had a nice, white, cobblestone courtyard that was lit up by tall lamps that shone down white light. At the edges, leading up to the double doors, were nice, well-trimmed bushes and a couple of ferns as well. The doors themselves were carved from quality oak, and it had a marble balcony hanging over it, which was supported by two large granite pillars.

Sonic had leaped up on top of the high wall and was watching what the S.W.A.T team was doing. They were barring the front of the courtyard, and aiming several guns at something. What it was surprised Sonic, and usually there wasn't much that surprised him. It was a mobian type being, made purely of water. It had two "quills" hanging back from its head, and it's eyes were large and glowing green. It had two large hands that were in the shape of claws, and its feet were large and strange looking, almost indescribable as any type of shape other than perhaps resembling roots from a tree's trunk. There were two things, however, that really got to Sonic. One was that there was a brain of sorts floating inside of the thing's head. The other was something that he ended up witnessing within the next few seconds.

A megaphone called out, "Halt, creature! You are completely surrounded! Surrender yourself or you will be shot!"

The watery monster flung its fist forward and punched one of the men that was in front of it. That man went flying out from over the cars, into the park outside. He was knocked out cold. As Sonic turned back, he watched all of the machine guns going off and the men firing their pistols at the monster. The bullets, however, were not doing anything. Rather, they were stopping inside of the monster before simply falling out uselessly.

One of them called out, "Stop! Our weapons are practically useless!"

All of them stopped, and something of a menacing grin appeared inside of the monster's features. "Commander, what should we do?" one of them called out. The fear in his voice was unmistakable.

That was when Sonic leaped down into the courtyard and called out, "Hey, you big blue freak of nature! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

The eyes turned to him, and stared right at his. It sent chills down his spine, but he shook it off and motioned his finger to beckon it towards him. He wanted it to pick a fight with him so that he could utterly destroy it. It did not take to his beckoning well and flung its fist at him. He watched it stretch out on the water, and he simply stepped aside. As it shot past him, the strand of water connecting it got shorter and shorter, and finally, it was short enough that Sonic easily snapped it by poking it with his finger.

It wasn't very happy about losing it's hand like that. If flung its other arm at him, as if thinking that it might help it hit him. He stepped aside, again, and then he rolled himself into a ball and performed his "spindash" maneuver that Tails and him had perfected in the past. He spun on the ground in such a fashion that he didn't move forward, yet he built up spinning speed until he was at the highest it could go. Then, before the creature could even move, he zoomed forward and blasted through it, making contact with the membrane of sorts that was floating in the creature.

It burst apart into a huge amount of small water droplets and Sonic landed near one of the bushes and looked back with a smirk. "That'll teach it not to-" he started before cutting himself off. All of the droplets and puddles of water had reformed into one, bigger puddle which was now forming itself into the creature again. This time, its eyes were narrowed into a glare, and it was looking right at him.

It lunged at him, bringing both its fists forward. To someone who was slower, it might have seemed impossible to dodge. But Sonic easily leaped above it and then propelled himself downwards towards it, pile driving into the membrane once again and sending the droplets everywhere. However, it was quickly trying to reform now, this time around him!

It took his full effort, but he managed to break away from it and skid to a stop near exact middle of the courtyard. When the creature came up again, the membrane was glowing a soft pink and the creature seemed perfectly enraged. Perhaps it was not happy that it was losing to what it thought should have been an easy battle for it.

"Come and get it!" Sonic called to it, grinning and getting back into his standard battle pose. For him, at this point, that he meant that he got fairly low, with his left leg in back and his hands spread apart. He looked ready to spring at any given moment.

As for the watery creature, it did not reply. Instead, it suddenly snatched one of the tall lights that towered about the courtyard, and leaped up to the top if. From there, it launched attacks with its fists, trying desperately to hit the hedgehog from a perch that it could not get him from. Sonic dodged every attack, and kept taunting it, hoping to annoy it to the point where it would come down to try and fight him. And that it did, the membrane glowing a blood red as it dove down towards him, attempting to hit him with one final attack.

Once again, this didn't work. The creature was outmatched by the blue blur. He simply leaped up, rolling into a ball again, and slammed himself through it. It spread apart into the separate water droplets and puddles again before reforming, but this time, the creature didn't pop out. Sonic grinned and knew now that he had defeated it.

But still, just in case, he watched it carefully. He could feel that it was still watching him for a second, but then it suddenly started dashing away from him as fast as it could, heading towards a street drain. "Hey, come back here!" Sonic said, dashing after it. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that it slipped into the drain, disappearing from sight and leaving him just standing there.

After a while of just staring at where it had gone, he said, "Good riddance to you!" He turned around and headed to the police cars, where the officers were now coming back into the courtyard.

The commander of this small detachment, a tall man with a burly frame and wild red hair complete with a rather untamed beard and sideburns, came forward and grinned at him. "Thanks for the assistance, Sonic! We wouldn't have been able to stop that thing had you not come!"

Sonic shrugged and said, "Bullets don't often work against water anyways. What was it doing here, though?"

He pointed to one of the windows, which was broken. "It had broken into the building, looking for something. People said that it was searching the jewelry there for something. We believe that it was looking for the Chaos Emerald that had been stored there, but after getting caught, it jetted, probably trying to get away without a hitch. It's a good thing that you showed up when you did, Sonic!" the man said, and then he added, "Unfortunately, we're going to have to set up a police investigation zone around here. Some of the detectives want to have a look at what it was trying to do, and as much as we want to, we can't dissuade them."

"So that means I need to get out of here, then?" the blue hedgehog asked, crossing his arms.

The policeman nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Heck, even we aren't allowed in unless it's on official business. They're that picky about this."

Sonic slowly nodded and he said, "Alright, then. I'll be sure to keep out of your way."

"By the way, your sister was looking for you, in case you're interested in finding her again," the man told him.

Sonic wasn't really interested in doing that. After all, he thought that his sister was perhaps one of the most annoying people in the entire world. "Nah, if she finds me, I'll talk to her. As of right now, I'm going to find myself a new hotel room and get some sleep."

"Just be careful, Sonic. Not everyone likes the fact that you're back," the guy said. There had been trouble recently with people actively proclaiming that the fact that Sonic was back had to easily be the biggest myth that had ever been spread about. There were also people destroying things that were simple merchandise sold with Sonic's name.

Sonic listened to some of the explanations of what had been going on of late and smirked. "They think they're so cool, don't they? Just wait until they come up against the real thing!" he stated before he left the courtyard and headed to the hotel by the ocean. It was a tall, five story building that was capable of housing nearly six hundred people. The rooms were always nice, complete with a comfy bed, a small TV, usually at least one window, and a bathroom. The best rooms, and the ones that people wanted to go to, were the ones that had balconies facing the ocean, for they had great views and the sea breeze was often great.

He very front door was a nice set of glass doors that seemed to crumple inwards as they opened up for him. On the inside, the first section was a nice area made with white tiles, and it was where the front desk was. Upon walking up, the man at the counter jumped up at the sight of him. "Why, if it isn't our very own Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Sonic frowned and he said, "You're very own? What's that supposed to mean?"

The man stood up and grinned. The grin showed his dazzling white teeth, which Sonic thought were unrealistically white. He was dressed in a nice suit, a tuxedo in fact, and he had neatly trimmed blond hair that was wavy and well combed. Sonic stared at him, thinking that he was rather ridiculous for dressing the way that he did. "Our entire hotel is almost devoted to you as a fanbase!"

Sonic shook his head and sighed. "Whatever, can I get a room? Preferably by the seaside?"

The man said, "We have a room at the top floor specially-"

Sonic put some cash on the counter and said, "I'm getting a different room. I don't trust reserved rooms."

The man let out a gasp of surprise. "But Sonic, how can you say that! What about the standings of our hotel?"

The blue hedgehog shook his head and said, "No exceptions." Besides, the guy creeped him out completely anyways.

The room that he managed to get was, of course, one by the seaside, on the second floor. Room 283, the room was. It was as nice as any of the hotel rooms that were there, and the balcony was a nice addition to the already rather serene state of the room. Sonic sighed as he looked out at the ocean, the waves flowing and crashing against the beaches, though no one was really there save for a few crazy people that liked being out in the waters at night.

He sighed as he walked back inside and laid on the bed. "This is going to be one heck of a crazy time..." he said before grinning and staring at the ceiling. "Which means that I'm going to have a heck of a lot of fun, aren't I?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Reunion

**Tails will be a female in this story. No complaints. You have any, I don't wanna hear 'em. Post 'em elsewhere where someone will care about them. I like the idea of Tails as a female and a male. I go either way, though usually a female. I want to make that a note before anything else says something about it and how much they hate me for it. So...without further ado, HATERS BEGONE! And let us be on our way through the story.**

It was early in the morning when Tails got up, as was her usual schedule. She sighed as she sat up and stretched before looking down at her body, dressed in white pajamas. Her blanket had a design of Sonic the Hedgehog on it, seeing as she was his biggest fan, in a way. She didn't go totally crazy, however, unlike his sister, whom she had quite the disliking for. Nevertheless, she just shrugged that off before she got up and proceeded to get ready for the day.

Around fifteen minutes later, she was ready for the day, having only to eat breakfast. That, she skipped for the time being. She was too excited to be getting ready to have her first meal of the day, seeing as she had taken time to schedule her test flight for her own brand new plane today. Her plane, the Tornado Mk. II, currently was not painted. Heck, it was barely even finished, save for the engine that she had put into the thing. She also had a backup model just in case this one failed, as almost all of her inventions did on the first try...

"Alright, then! Let's put in our little thiny majigger here..." she said, opening up the engine and sticking her newfound prize and brand new energy source into the engine. She then put on a flight helmet as well as some leather gear to protect her over all, and then she got into the cockpit of the plane. As the doors to her hangar opened up, she saw the fake palm trees outside of her runway already moving down to make way for the runway that her plane used. It was short, sure, but she hardly needed anything else. She had a different runway for the original Tornado, anyways.

As the plane picked up off of the ground, she smirked. So far, it was going good. Most of her newer planes just kind of dropped down into the ocean, leaving her to swim up to a place where she could dry off and then fly back to her workshop to figure out what she had done wrong. This plane was actually flying now! "Good, good, good! That's a first in a long time! Let's take this baby for a spin over Station Square! Maybe I can even get Sonic to catch me up in the sky once again!" she said, giggling a bit as she thought of what he might think, if he was really back. She hadn't heard the latest news that had confirmed that he was back, and staying at the Beachside Hotel in Station Square.

As she flew over the city, she smiled as she looked over the tops of the buildings. To her, the city was beautiful, and had a wonderful sparkle in the early morning. Some of the buildings were blinding, but that hardly took away from the beauty of the city. Sometimes, it reminded her of how her plane would shine when the sun hit it just right. She was flying just fine, over the city and now nearing the beach to take a look at the activity below, when she hit trouble.

Her plane jerked as the first sign that something bad was going to happen. "What the-" she said before noticing that her engine had caught fire. Too much energy had gone through it from the new power source that she had, and it engine had caught fire as a result. The fire reached her propeller, making it spin out of the way, but worse, her plane's movement through the air had died! "AHHH!" she screamed as her plane began to twist and turn, threatening to go into a "death spiral".

Down below, someone heard her scream. Sonic had been laying on the beach, on a towel, in swim trunks. He also had sunglasses on, which he removed to see if he was actually seeing the new, and horrific sight that was before him. "Tails? Oh no...TAILS! HEAD FOR THE SHORELINE! I'LL BE THERE TO GET YOU!"

Tails faintly heard his call, and followed his advice, even though she had no clue who had just called out to her. It was all that she could do to make sure that her plane didn't end up in the death spiral, though she barely managed to prevail over it and now was sitting there, shaken and definitely very spooked by the thought that she had nearly died. Her plane had automatically put out the fire, but the engine was fried and was not going to be reusable. She began to carefully try and get out of the plane, and once she was out, she tossed away her flight helmet and stood there, panting hard and shaking.

Sonic came up, now dressed in a dark jacket as well as jeans. He stopped for a moment, admiring her. It had been two years since he had seen her, after all, and her beauty had only increased as time had passed. He gulped before he shook his head and walked towards her, saying, "You have to be more careful with your prototypes, Tails!"

She gasped and turned around, thought the gasp was more out of sudden happiness than out of a general shock. "SONIC! You're back!" she cried out before embracing him. Her grip was so tight that Sonic felt like he was getting bearhugged.

"Tails...can't...b-b..." he managed to get out before Tails finally loosened her grip on him and gazed into his eyes.

"I can't believe this! This has to be a dream come true! I dreamed last night that you were back!" she told him, a sparkle of joy present in her eyes.

This made Sonic's cheeks go red. "You did? I...uh...did return last night, is the thing..." he said, turning beet red and turning around to try and hide it. Tails couldn't help but giggle at him before she walked over to her plane and opened up the engine.

After examining it for a few moments, she grinned and reached in to pull out her new power source. "Here we are! I was testing this plane on a brand new power supply that I finally managed to figure out how to work with. It's this!" she held up a large, purple gem, easily as big as someone's fist, providing that their hand was big enough.

Sonic gasped and he said, "Wow! You managed to work with a Chaos Emerald this time? You really are full of surprise, Tails!"

This time, she went beet red, though she didn't hide her face like Sonic had. Really, she wanted to show it to Sonic, because most of the time she blushed because she liked him or his compliments. She smiled before she then explained, "I found that that, because of the way Chaos Emeralds work, they are basically super generators, and are the best type of energy that someone could use, if harnessed correctly. They contain an unlimited supply of both positive and negative energy, and it's just a matter of getting either one out of the emerald and then you can keep using it and using it, basically forever!"

Sonic scratched his head and then he said, "I didn't know about the positive and negative bit. I always thought that there was just one type of energy in it, and that's what I always used when I went Super Sonic against Eggman in the past."

Tails shrugged and said, "Hey, ya learn something new every day, right, Sonic?" She grinned and then she hugged him again.

Sonic hugged her back for a second before he asked, "So, where have you set up your home of late? Is it somewhere in the city?"

Tails shook her head and she explained, "There's too much stuff going on in the city for me to live a comfy life building things. My stuff would get stolen all the time here! That's why I built my house and workshop out in the Mystic Ruins, not far from here, though the fastest way to get there is by train."

Sonic sighed and scratched his head. "You know that I hate trains..."

Tails frowned a bit and she said, "I know that you do, but would you rather run and tire yourself through going through mountains and the like?"

The blue hedgehog went silent before he sighed and then he replied, "Alright, so I'll go with the train, as long as I get to sit by you when we're on the train."

Tails sighed and she shook her head. "You've always been one to dislike trains. I wonder why you do, though? You never did tell me. You just have always told me you hate them."

The blue hedgehog's ears fell back as he thought about how to answer the question posed before him. He then quickly replied, "I'd rather not talk about it. It brings back memories that I'd rather not dwell on."

Tails looked up and asked him, "Something tragic happen to you in the past? Or just merely traumatizing or something as a child?"

Sonic dodged the question and asked, "Can we get going to the train?"

The two tailed vixen nodded and turned around before walking off across the beach, with Sonic trailing behind her. He really didn't want to be on the train, but since that was the fastest and most convenient way and he didn't want Tails to have to work more than she already had with getting over the stress of her plane crashing, he was complying with her. He kept his thoughts on other things, especially her. He found that, by thinking of her, it was easier to calm down, despite the hardest situations. He wasn't sure about why, however.

Tails was a bit angry that she had not gotten her original question answered. However, seeing as it was from his past, something bad from his past at that, she wasn't going to question him further until she saw fit. However, there were things that just were not adding up for her that she would rather have answered, rather than just having them sit there in her mind. However, her thoughts were interrupted by them reaching the train station faster than she had anticipated. She reached into her pocket to pull out her wallet when Sonic put a hand on her arm. "I'll pay for it, Tails. Consider it an apology for not answering your other question."

Tails followed his arm up to his eyes and smiled, though she said nothing. Sonic then went to the counter and paid for tickets to the train that was leaving for the Mystic Ruins in around half an hour. Now, he sat at a bench and waited, watching the time rather impatiently. Tails sat beside him and she whispered, "Ya know, they say that when you watch the clock, the hands will never move."

Sonic diverted his gaze from the big clock and turned to her, wondering why she had brought that up. "O...kay? I guess?" he asked, and Tails giggled at his confusion and his remark.

"You were watching the clock, silly! You don't watch the clock and wait for the time to pass, silly! You pass the time by doing something while you wait!" she explained, and Sonic turned red. He most certainly had remembered that, though he didn't necessariy follow it very often. To not do it in front of his best friend, and someone that he was rather attracted to, was quite the embarrassment for him.

Sonic now thought about what she told him and then he asked her, "Well, what do you suggest we do? There isn't much that we can do without having an accurate time keeping device of some sort."

"You have a cell phone, Sonic?" she asked, smiling at him. Everyone that she knew had a cell phone on them.

Sonic pulled his out and said, "I got in on my way back. I didn't use to have one. Figured I could just go without. Then I found some reasons to have one, such as keeping track of time for events and the like, and also using it as a GPS."

Tails was surprised. "You managed to afford a phone with GPS on it? What about the internet speed?"

"Four gig. Why?" he asked, and Tails about fainted from hearing that.

She recovered in time to tell him, "That's insane! How did you ever manage to pay for one of those things!"

Sonic' face turned into the "anime sweatdrop" look. He explained, "I have this kind of money because I'm hero of the world, remmeber? Don't you have that kind of money as well?"

Tails shook her head and then she told him, "I was never really treated as enough of the hero along with you to receive any kind of bonus like that. I always had to work for mine. Like, right now, I keep up my workshop by inventing things, most of which don't get bought but when they do get bought, they sell for a lot of money."

Sonic was just sitting there, dumfounded. "How could anyone not consider you hero enough to receive a bonus along with me?" he demanded, but he wasn't demanding that of her. He was about to start venting.

Tails put her mouth over his and said, "Hush now, Sonic I don't need to know more about any of the bad things that have gone on because of some mean judges of my ability. Please don't do anything more."

Sonic sighed and Tails removed her hand from over his mouth. He shook his head and he told her, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have acted that way. Not at all..."'

She looked over at the time and noticed that it had already been ten minutes. She said, "We've got twenty minutes, Sonic. Let's try not to fuss and argue during that time."

The blue hedgehog turned and then he looked at the clock again before noticing something odd about it. "Tails, I want you to do something. I want you to get up and start walking away towards the left."

Tails seemed confused, not knowing what Sonic had seen. Nevertheless, she trusted that he knew something was going on and she got up and started walking away, but then she heard him leap to the clock and punch something in on it. "I knew it! We were being spied on! By Dr. Robotnik no less!"

Everyone in the train station was now watching as the blue hedgehog dropped to the floor, holding a small camera in his hands. Tails ran down and pushed through the crowd to examine it. She saw the mark, a marking of the evil doctor's face, engraved onto a part of the camera. "Yep, definitely Robotnik. I wonder how he's back, though. You killed him back in the space battle over the Earth when we were saving Mobius, didn't you?"

Sonic shrugged and he replied, "It's that or someone else has come to take his place, claiming to be the good doctor. Either way, if he's behind something, then we're going to know very soon, I'll bet." He sighed and then he said, "We need to get on the train...I hope that he hasn't figured out where we're heading."

Tails frowned and then she thought about what he might do if he did know. She remembered that she did have a chaos emerald with her...perhaps he had learned somehow? She walked over to the front and she asked, "Can we get the train moving faster? For our sake?"

The reply wasn't exactly satisfactory. She turned to Sonic and said, "Well, they certainly aren't going to speed up the process. In fact, they're thinking of delaying the train to allow more people to get on!"

Sonic walked over to the man and looked him square in the eyes. "You keep that schedule moving at the same pace, or you hurry it up! You're putting me and my friend's lives at stake!"

"Oh, well if it isn't the famed Sonic the Hedgehog! Perhaps I should prolong the schedule even longer now that I see it is you who I shall be hindering!" the man said, laughing. The tone he took was sarcastic and malicious, and Sonic recalled the words that the police chief had warned him with before he had left for the night.

Sonic cracked his knuckles and said, "Do so and it'll be the last thing that you get to do."

It was Tails who put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Sonic, calm down. Now is not a good time to be fighting someone just because they are provoking you." She then glared at the man and she said, "I hope that the authorities get you if we're put into danger because of your actions here."

"Why would they care?" the man said, laughing as Sonic turned and began to walk away. "Well, it seems that the world's greatest hero doesn't even have the guts to pulverize someone for mouthing off at him. For shame! I had thought you would be better! Just something to tell the other people around here!" He made sure that his voice was loud enough for everyone in the station to hear, though all he got was a lot of people glaring at him. There was maybe one cheer, and that man was knocked over by a woman simply tripping him up and then laughing as she walked away.

Tails turned back to the carnage and shuddered. "This is madness! You used to be the most loved person on this planet! Now there are slimeballs that are doing what they can to hinder you!"

Sonic shook his head and then he said, "If it weren't for the fact that I did protect the world, I wouldn't even be known about right now. In fact, I sometimes wish that I wasn't known about..." He sighed and shook his head, and his remark left Tails wondering.

"Why do you wish that?" she asked, massaging his shoulder a little bit, hoping that this wasn't something truly serious.

Sonic turned to her and looked into her eyes. "With so much fame, I have great amounts of freedom with certain things. However, I sometimes have to be careful where I go, lest I be followed by mobs and hordes of people. Being famous has its ups, sure, because I can go wherever I want without worry. But then there is that catch...that I can never truly be left alone because there is always someone around who wants to talk to me or bug me. It's...hindering, after a fashion. I would be glad to be relieved of the duty of being the world's greatest hero for once."

The twin tailed vixen had nothing to say to his explanation. She just sighed and hugged him. "I'm sure that someday, you won't have to bear that, and someone else who will simply love the attention will have it all to themselves while you help them work from the sidelines again. You just can't give up, Sonic."

The blue hedgehog perked up and said, "I know that you know that I don't give up, ever. It's not my principle. Also, about that, I know it'll happen. But anywho, let's get to the train. I think it's about to leave now, and we don't want to miss this one. Who knows what'll happen there."With that, the couple turned to get on the train and head to the Mystic Ruins.

**What awaits our heroes at the Mystic Ruins? What had Eggman found out with his spying? And will he ambush them along the way or perhaps be waiting for them at the Mystic Ruins? Find out next chapter, everyone!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: A threat to the world

**We're traveling back in time a little bit, to show Knuckles and Chaos, kind of like in the game. But I'm sure you'll be intrigued by what differences there are.**

Knuckles was sitting against his Master Emerald, resting for the time being. He had just put himself through some harsh training all across the island, coming back to make sure that his emerald wasn't gone. Then again, how could it be gone? The only way to retrieve the Master Emerald would be to break the seals holding it, and they were scattered across the island as well. And, Knuckles had the power to easily restore the seals straight from where the Master Emerald was, by digging down into the shrine that it sat on top of and pressing a switch.

At the moment, however, nothing was going on. He was bored, itching for something to happen. "Ever since Sonic came to the island, I've just been sitting here, alone, wondering what the heck to do. At least Robotnik gave me something to do, instead of me sitting here guarding this damn thing," he muttered, turning around to look inside of the massive green gem. Even as he stared at it, he was reminded of how important guarding this emerald was.

There was something about it that not many people knew, and that was why it had be to be guarded so well, by someone as tough and as strong as he was. The Master Emerald was the controller of all the Chaos Emeralds. If used, it could ignite the Chaos Emeralds power immensely, chanigng them into emeralds that were as large as the Master Emerald. Super Emeralds, he called them, when he first found out about this feature along with Sonic, who used their power to defeat Robotnik out in space above the island.

Of course, the Master Emerald could then also neutralize their power, make them fall dormant until released for use again. It was something that Knuckles had yet to do, though he was ready to do it at a moment's notice. He placed his hand on the emerald and sighed. "I'm sorry about cussing there. I am your guardian, and I should be honored, not complaining," he told it, as if it would talk back to him. He then sighed, turning himself around and standing up. It was time for more of his exercises, seeing as he had the whole day ahead of himself.

He walked down to the base of the shrine, where he had established a special teleportation device that would transfer him into a chamber directly above the shrine. From there, he could see if something was going on with the Master Emerald, but also watch for any intruders that were coming from the air or around the shrine.

The shrine itself, despite being broken, still had the main mound that held the emerald. It was stationed on a small island set apart from the main part of Angel Island, connected by a surprisingly steady wooden bridge that had no ropes or anything to hold onto. The area that was above was there by grace of the Master Emerald, giving him something to do. Inside, there was a single golem that currently stood there, awaiting a command to be activated.

Knuckles stood in front of it and said, "Master of training, I command you to awaken!" The eyes of the golem went green and lines coursed throughout its body in a crisscross motion all the way down to its feet. It got into a fighting position and waited for Knuckles to throw the first punch. The red echidna cracked his knuckles before he took a jab at the golem's face. It managed to block and push him back before taking a swing at his head. It was surprisingly fast, despite seeming to be made out of rock, and Knuckles barely managed to duck under its arm. He punched one of its legs and knocked it to one knee, and from there he delivered a solid blow to its chest, knocking it into its back.

Knuckles didn't stop there. He proceeded to get on top of the golem and start beating its face, trying to break the golem's head apart so that another one would have to be made for him. This one threw him off before he even got a third punch, and got up, ready to face him again. The red echidna smirked and he said, "This is more fun than I had thought it might be. Most of the other golems have been lame and boring and easy to defeat."

The animated rock being that was in front of him now charged him again, swinging its fist at him again, aiming at his chest. The red echidna put his fist in the way of the attack, pushed it aside, and jabbed it where its gut would be. A crack appeared in that area and the golem fell to a knee again. This time, Knuckles delivered a slower, but extremely strong punch right to its face. The head burst into pieces, and the golem fell over, defeated. Another one rose up and activated, this time with blue instead of the green. The red echidna wondered if this time, the golems were going to go up in difficulty until he was defeated.

This one was highly fast, faster than what he could initially react to. Before he knew what had happened, it ran up and slammed its fist into his gut, knocking the wind out of him before it kicked him and sent him sliding. It then leaped at him, going to slam its fist down on him, or it would have done that and maybe killed him if it weren't merely for his practice, not his death. However, he rolled out and it hit the ground where his head had been. He delivered a powerful blow to its side, which sent it sprawling. It slid into a wall and got up, only to have Knuckles fist slam its head into the wall. The head burst again into dust and rock and the golem fell. Now a red one came up, this one appearing slow, but it was made of iron instead of rock. The echidna said nothing as he got ready to fight this one and take it down.

It began walking towards him slowly, each step making a loud _CLANG_ as it approached Knuckles. The red echidna swung his fist at the chest, hitting it as hard as he could, but when he had hit it, nothing happened. In fact, his hand hurt from hitting it. It then took a swing and slammed Knuckles alongside his head, and the echidna saw stars in front of his eyes as he slid across the chamber and into a wall. He was recovering when he saw it coming at him, his vision blurred and he was seeing double so he thought that there might be two there now. Things weren't looking that great for him.

He made an effort to swing at one, and missed it completely, instead hitting an arm. It then hit him again, and he blacked out. When he awoke, he was laying on top of the Master Emerald, staring into a night sky. His head was throbbing painfully, and he was sure that he had a nice lump on his head from where he had gotten hit, twice he was sure. He sat up and shook his head to try and clear his still blurred vision and he looked around before he sighed. "I didn't pass the test, I guess. At least, I'm supposing that was a test. But that was something I hadn't ever seen before...I wonder why it generated that?"

He started to get to his feet, his legs shaking as he attempted this, but he did steady himself and he now stood on top of the Emerald. Then, he noticed something of a bright light off in the distance, something from a large aircraft, larger than anything he had ever seen. Suddenly, the emerald that he had been standing on shattered and he was sent flying off, down the stairs, to the ground below. He slammed his head again, rightn on the lump, and screamed in pain.

As he was standing up, he looked back at the top and saw something there that he had never seen. It was a watery creature, standing about the height of a mobian. The green eyes that it had were glaring down at him, and it uttered something in an ancient language, something that he had never heard before. The echidna growled and asked, "Did you break that emerald! Oh...I WILL CRUSH YOU!"

He ran up the stairs to it and punched at it, only to have his fist go through the watery being and do nothing. It then jabbed him in the gut and sent him right back down the stairs. This time, he landed on his rear down at the base and the creature was laughing. It had an eerie laugh, echoing as if the voice were disembodied. It again said something to him in the archaic language that it spoke before it sank down into a puddle and vanished, leaving the echidna there to wonder what was going on.

"That's...really not good! Without the Master Emerald, this island will start falling! It could fall right on top of a continent! I only hoipe that it'll at least land in the ocean far enough away to not send a tsunami wave to any big cities..." the echidna said, watching as clouds shot upwards. He grabbed onto a piece of rock that he knew was steady and got ready for the impact. However, despite his hold, when the island landed, it had such a heavy impact that he was flung off of the island. Before he knew it, he had crashed into some heavy underbrush in a jungle and blacked out again.

When he woke up again, he found that he was still entangled in the heavy foliage. He easily broke out of it and got all of the vines off of himself as well as whatever insects had used his body as a perch or nestling spot. "Ugh...this is why I hate jungles! Wait, why am I even in one?" he asked, looking around himself. He was lost, and it was just dawning morning in the jungle, meaning that it was still practically pitch black.

Then, a light showed itself in the darkness. It was a glowing orb that floated up to him, stopping right before his face. "Hello, Knuckles. I am Tikal, and I am here to guide you from this place!" came a female voice. It came from the orb of light.

Knuckles backed up, astounded by this sudden occurrence. "Wait, you talk? I've never heard of a ball of light that could talk before," he told her, wondering what was going on. The voice had been young sounding, friendly, yet there was a hint of desperation in it as well.

She stayed floating where she was, and then explained to Knuckles, "I will tell you all that you need to know at this moment in time. As for me, I am here to guide you specifically as in what you must do to stop that creature that you saw after the Master Emerald broke apart."

The red echidna frowned. "What about that creature? I can find it and kill it, can't I?" he asked, not knowing what he was up against.

The light dimmed a bit and Tikal said, "It can't be killed, Knuckles. It can only be defeated for a day before it comes back with more determination. However, that's not the worst part. It, it takes Chaos Emeralds to make itself stronger!"

Knuckles was taken aback by this. "It actually takes Chaos Emeralds into itself to make itself stronger? How much stronger does it get with each emerald?" he asked her, wondering just how bad this could get.

There was no answer from Tikal. It was like she was thinking, trying to guess how much stronger it would get. "I guess, in terms that you might understand, it would become stronger by threefold with each Chaos Emerald added to it, and it would add up as well!"

Knuckles frowned and then he said, "Well that's a real bad thing. Because it stacking like that could result in it having the ability to destroy the entire world when it has all seven chaos emeralds."

"When it has all seven, Knuckles, the power breaks through a wall and skyrockets. It becomes far more powerful than ever before," she explained, and then she said, "Knuckles, you have to hurry and restore the Master Emeralds, and cancel the powers of the Chaos Emeralds! You must do this before it is too late!"

Knuckles nodded and then he said, "I will help you, if you'll help me find them, Tikal!"

The light went nearly blindingly bright. "It's a deal! We'll help each other out in this, and save the world at the same time!"

Knuckles thought about this and then he asked, "Though, I want to know, how did the Master Emerald shatter? Was it that beast that broke out of it?"

Tikal said, "Partially. There was also some outside help in breaking the seals remotely, all at once, and that let Chaos break free. He was awakened by something of a strange frequency that entered his mind...he broke out once the shield was gone and then he attacked you and left. Where he went, though, I do not know. I do know that we have to restore the Master Emerlad, and fast!"

"That won't be an easy task," Knuckles said, starting to try and climb up a tree to poke out of the forest and have a look around. "Shards of it probably went everywhere."

Tikal floated out by him and he noticed that the morning sun was just starting to come out, over the horizon. It lit up the jungle canopy, and allowed him to see that there was a mining tunnel that would lead out of the jungle area and near the train station. He had been here before, though for what errand it was that he was here, he did not remember. He asked, "Where would you suggest we start?"

The light went dimmer for a bit before perking back up as Tikal said, "In the city, there are numerous amounts of them. I'd wager to say around seven of the twenty that it broke into."

"TWENTY?" Knuckles asked, his mouth gaping open in surprise. "They must be pretty damn big shards, then!"

Tikal giggled and then she said, "Well, come on, then! We have to go to the city to find them all!"

**Just introducing Knuckles. I'm sorry if this wasn't the most interesting chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Eggman's Return

**Btw, for those of you who like listening to music while they read, when Eggman shows up, just play his theme from SA2 (it's an awesome song, if you haven't heard it. XD)**

The train had finally stopped moving and Tails and Sonic were ready to disembark. Sonic was especially ready, since he hated train rides. They were either too slow or were unsafe for him and anyone else that he had with them, though he never complained. He had learned not to complain around Tails, especially, who after having her ear talked off with it one time had snapped at him. It hadn't helped that it had been her time of the month at that moment in time...

The place that they came out of was basically just a giant, wooden tower. There was no real service there, meaning that people who were going to Station Square had an easy right of way to there. They didn't have to pay for train tickets, they didn't have to worry about having to pay when they get off, etc. It was an easy ride back to Station Square. Tails floated off of the tower to the bottom instead of taking the stairs, while Sonic leaped off and landed on the ground rather easily, meeting her down there. "Alright, so where is this workshop of yours, Tails?" the blue hedgehog asked, straightening out his quills with his hands.

Tails walked out a little ways and pointed to a rather small, orange building up on top of a high hill. "It's over there, Sonic! I hope that you won't mind it when we get to it...it is rather dismal," she commented.

Sonic shrugged and said, "Meh, anything is better than my home."

Tails got a confused look and she turned over to him. "Your home? I thought you said you didn't have one?" she asked him.

The hedgehog replied, "I used to have one, back when I was younger. It was blown up by someone, I don't exactly remember who it was, but me and my family barely got out alive on that one. That was when Robotnik had also come around and was wreaking havoc."

The two tailed fox looked down and sighed. "Right...I remember now. I'm sorry, again," she told him, sighing as she now began to lead on to the workshop. Since it was up on a hill, there naturally had to be stairs. And there were stairs that led up to it, a set that had been made back when there were still tribes living in the ruins and out here along the jungle. Before they reached the workshop, they arrived at one part of the hill that was a giant ring of sorts. It used to have been a giant burial ground for great leaders of the tribes, though now the graves had been removed and decimated. There was nothing to it besides it just being there for something to be done with it.

No sooner had they gotten to the top than Sonic now heard a familiar noise. It sounded like that of a jet engine, yet it was quieter and higher pitched. "We've got company," Sonic said before turning around and seeing none other than his arch nemesis! Currently, he was flying a strange, single-person mobile that was painted black, and shaped like the bottom half of an egg. It had some gray, steel armor protecting it near the top, as well as a headlight for the man to be able to see in the dark. As for the person driving it, all they could currently see was his bald shining head and his goggles.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Sonic and his female counterpart, Tails!" the man called out before also letting out a maniacal laugh. "What brings you back into this world, Sonic the Hedgehog?" he asked the blue hedgehog.

"Nothing much. Just wanted to see friends again and save the day!" Sonic said, getting into his traditional battle pose.

"Ha! Surely that is not all you are here for? Bah, what does it matter. I'll just let you know now that you won't be saving the day this time around, Sonic! Not with my master plan that I, the great Doctor Julius Ivo Robotnik have come up with!" the man shouted, giving off another maniacal laugh.

Tails shouted, "You should have died up in space, Eggman! How have you managed to survive?"

Eggman stood up now, showing off his egglike body dressed in his usual red suit. He crossed his arms and said, "You really think that a simple explosion would destroy me up in space? Both of you are fools! Now then, Tails, hand over your Chaos Emerald!"

Tails backed up and she asked, "What the...how did you..."

The blue hedgehog suddenly dashed forward and slammed himself into the egg mobile, and Robotnik let out a scream as he had to sit down and keep control of the thing. It floated out over the ocean that the hill faced, and he grinned. "Perhaps you are missing something, Tails. I know a lot of things. I've been watching you and all of your friends ever since I began my true master plan!"

Sonic stomped his foot on the ground and called out, "Shut your face, Egghead! I've foiled you four times in a row before! This will be no different!"

Eggman crossed his arms and said, "If that's how you want to play, then fine! Get a load of this!" he flew down out of sight, and Sonic started towards the edge to see where he was going. He stopped dead in the middle of the ring once Eggman showed himself again. His egg mobile now had a big attachment to it, namely, three gigantic engines as well as missile launchers and giant drills. "Welcome to the stage, ladies and gentlemen, a marvel to behold. The Egg Hornet!" Eggman shouted.

Tails backed up, staring at it with awe. Something like that was far beyond her capacity to build at the moment. Then again, she had just recently started building things, so it was no surprise that Eggman could still outdo her. However, Sonic stood his ground and said, "Is that all? I was expecting something more grand, Robotnik!"

The mad scientist flew it up right in front of the hill and began firing missiles at Sonic, each of them very fast and homing. Sonic, however, easily dodged them all, though he was surrounded by explosions. Tails let out a scream of fear, thinking that Sonic had just gotten blown up, but Eggman knew that Sonic couldn't have died that easily. A blue orb suddenly shout out from the smoke and slammed itself into the egg hornet's main body, sending it flying away and spiraling as well. Eggman regained control of the machine before he landed in the ocean, however, and flew back up, firing missiles in a more direct line of fire. This time, they shot super fast, faster than Tails could track, and Sonic was barely able to dodge the direct line of fire.

The explosions that ensued were blinding, and Tails was forced to cover her eyes. Eggman kept up with Sonic's speed, aiming at him and trying to aim in his path, but no matter what he did, he could not keep the missiles going with Sonic's super speed. A cyclone was forming in the middle of the hill, and then suddenly Sonic vanished inside of all of the dust and smoke within the cyclone. Eggman turned on some heat visors to look, but didn't see Sonic in there at all. Then, his ship rocked and slammed into the ground! Sonic had just came down and slammed himself down onto the machine!

It rocked back and forth now, explosions rocking the machine. Then, all of the other pieces shattered off and fell to the ground and out into the ocean, leaving Eggman defenseless. The blue hedgehog landed and grinned. "Ha! Take that!" he shouted, pointing at Eggman. "I told you that you would lose!"

Eggman growled and then he said, "I have not lost the battle yet! Chaos, get the emerald!"

Suddenly,water shot up around Tails as she screamed out. Her scream was muffled because of the water around her, and the emerald floated out of her pocket and into the watery membrane. Then, the two tailed fox was shot out, straight at Sonic! Sonic barely managed to catch her and hold her steady, though she was shuddering and freaking out, still afraid of what had just happened to her. Then, Sonic saw the monster that he had fought the night before was standing before him! Only, now it was bigger, with one of its arms much, much bigger. There was also a sort of skeleton inside of the arm, with the emerald locked into it.

All three looked on in surprise, but Robotnik was the first to speak, saying, "Ha! It's just like the stone tablets predicted! Chaos can use the emeralds to power itself and get stronger with each emerald added!"

Sonic and Tails both looked up at him as he flew over near Chaos and then said, "Well, shall we test it? Chaos, kill them both!"

Tails gulped and said, "Sonic, I'm going to go hide somewhere!"

Sonic nodded and let go of her, letting her fly away to somewhere that was safe. Suddenly, Chaos flung its arm forward at Sonic, this time a huge wave going with the arm. Sonic had to leap aside to avoid it, and then he bounced forward and punched the brain that hung inside of the head. It broke apart into a puddle, but then tried to come up around him!

At first, this tactic worked. Sonic was left to struggle as it began beating him with solid parts of the water, pounding him with piston-like motions. As the water got closer to his head, he was sure that he might drown. Then, he managed to tuck himself into a ball and start spinning, flinging the water everywhere. From that, he managed to spin out and pop out, sliding to a stop at the edge of the cliff. The water reformed into Chaos, who was now standing in the middle.

"Good tactic, you monster, but can you dodge this?" the blue hedgehog asked, standing up now and facing towards the monstrosity. The monster got ready, but it was unprepared for what Sonic did. He dashed straight at it and then faked it out, making it think that he was going to jump to the side. Since he was so fast, Chaos turned to prepare for him to attack, only to leave itself wide open to his blow. He leaped into the air and curled into a ball as he blasted through it again, scattering it all over the place.

"Chaos, that's enough! I'm sorry that I told you to try! Sonic was stronger than I had anticipated!" Eggman called out, and Chaos reformed near the egg mobile.

Sonic grinned and balled his hands into fists. "Nice trying, Eggman, but it seems that you creature isn't quite strong enough to handle me!"

"You might quite regret that statement, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Robotnik called out, laughing before he said, "When I get all of the Chaos Emeralds for Chaos here, he'll be unstoppable, and be working for me! Then, I can use him and destroy that little city, known as Station Square, and build my city on top of it, from where I can become an unstoppable force and take over the entire world!"

Sonic shook his head and then he said, "You've gotten even more delusional than before, Robotnik. I can't believe this..."

Robotnik just laughed and he asked, "What, do you honestly think that I am being delusional here by thinking of something that I know is possible?"

Sonic shook his head and said, "This isn't possible for you, Egghead. The fact is that when that creature comes up at the full strength and potential that it has, it'll rebel against you and there will no longer be any world to rule over! If that's how you want to keep going, however, then fine. Just know that it won't last at all...and if you do succeed, then kiss this world good-bye, even yourself!"

A frown crossed the man's face. He hadn't ever before heard Sonic come up with something like that. Then again, perhaps the hedgehog was just trying to scare him? That was the path that he took and he said, "Ha! You're lying t me, Sonic! I know you are! You're just trying to goad me into letting Chaos go! Like I'll ever do that!"

Sonic shook his head and then he said, "No, Robotnik. I want you to get rid of him before he kills you and everyone else and destroys the entire world!"

The watery creature turned to Robotnik, who looked at it before shaking his head. "I would never do that to him. I am not some sort of heartless maniac to do that..." Robotnik said before glaring at Sonic. "You'll regret ever having said that around Chaos here. In the meantime, I leave you to contemplate your next move. Not that you'll ever live long enough to beat me, mind you...but you can at least give it a good, well meaning effort!"

With that, a blinding flash ensued, leaving Sonic stunned. Only Tails witnessed Eggman flying away, with Chaos hanging onto the edge. When Sonic's vision cleared, he saw Tails wandering out from the rocks where she had hid herself, over the cliff. "How did everything go, Sonic?" she asked, and noticed that he was somewhat battered and bruised.

Sonic shook his head and said, "We need to kill that monster before Eggman can get him upgraded with all seven chaos emeralds. This is just so wrong. If that thing can get all 5, then we're going to have issues, because it'll break away from his control and be unstoppable. And then what?"

A frown crossed the vixen's face and she said, "This isn't good, Sonic. If that's the case, then there certainly is going to be a hell of a lot of trouble. We have to find all of the Chaos Emeralds before he does, and make certain that we have all of the others. If that monster gets its hands on every single one...this world will be in jeopardy."

The blue hedgehog sighed and then he asked, "how are we going to go about finding all of the Chaos Emeralds, though? I mean, aren't they all in special zones?"

Tails giggled and she said, "They used to be. They've been brought out so much that they have developed naturally into this world. We just have to find them, and I have a radar to do so!"

Sonic looked at her in surprise. "You do? Does it work?"

The two tailed vixen grinned and nodded to him. "I tested it myself. That's how I found the chaos emerald that I had originally! I found it using the radar, and I decided to try it out with my plane!"

Sonic then remembered and he told her, "That wasn't the story you told me back at the beach."

Her smile vanished and she looked down at the ground. "I...I-I-I, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to know how I actually did it. I wanted to look cool to you...instead, here I am, relying on tools to find something instead of actually looking..." she said, sniffling a little bit.

Sonic put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Hey, hey, don't cry just because I found that out. It's not a huge deal. I'm glad that you do have that radar to find them, because now it'll make finding them so much easier! That's all I really am caring about at this point, Tails!"

She looked up into his eyes and she asked, "You aren't going to tell anyone that I use a radar to find them, are you?"

The blue hedgehog shook his head. "Not a single person. Now get it out and let's see where it takes us!" he said, eager to foil Eggman once again.

Tails ran into her workshop, only to emerge again with a small, hand-held box that had a small antenna on it. "This is the radar...let's turn it on and..." she said turning it on. It showed the entire area of the Mystic Ruins, and inside, there was one small dot that was blinking. She smiled and said, "We've got a lead already!"

Sonic grinned and he said, "Let's go get it. With luck, we can easily find all the other six before Eggman even has an idea of what we're doing!"

**Another basic redo of a chapter, though I did add in some new elemnts, and a short fight with the new form of Chaos, Chaos 1. ^^;**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Chaos Emerald in Windy Valley

**I have, of late, received a very unnecessary flaming review from an anonymous source. I have no clue why they decided it, other than they were mad that I did not "fact check" that Tails is a guy, not a girl. I know Tails is a boy in the games, and that he was originally neutral in gender until the release. However, this is a FAN FICTION, therefore changes can and WILL be made. It is the beauty of imagination. If you have something constructive to say, say it. If you don't, then please don't say anything on the matter. Flaming is not tolerated by me and I can and will report abuse or remove the review if I find it necessary.**

Sonic and Tails were able to find their first Chaos Emerald within an hour. However, the place was somewhere that Tails had heard of, and dreaded being to. It was called Wind Valley. The entrance was hidden in the Mystic Ruins, inside of one of the caves, and had been sealed off for a long time. However, earthquakes had uncovered the entrance again and it was ready to be explored, if anyone was daring enough to brave the wind and tornadoes that often ravaged that place.

Even now, the two stood before the entrance. It was a wild wind tunnel that would carry them up and through the cave, out of a chute, and into the valley itself. Sonic turned to his friend and asked, "Are you ready for this?"

The fox shrugged and she said, "Who knows? I've heard of what happens to people if they go there, and the very thought of being there scares me."

Sonic shrugged and said, "So then, stay here. I can brave it alone."

The twin tailed fox shook her head and said, "I'm going if you are, Sonic. I can't just stand here all alone, worrying and being scared that you might not come back out of there alive!"

With that, both of them stepped towards the wind tunnel and then threw themselves in. The experience was exhilarating. They were tossed straight upwards by the strong winds that were blowing up from underneath them, and they saw themselves flying straight up to an angled chute that would blow them out, right towards the valley that hid their emerald.

Tails gripped onto Sonic the best she could to steady herself as they flew through the air, and she showed that she was afraid of something going wrong with their current flight. "Sonic...what if the exit is caved in and we smash right up against it? There'll be no way out!" Tails whimpered.

They had just reached the turn when Sonic grinned. "There we are. Nothing caved in. We're going to get flung right out of here without any-" he cut himself short as he saw how fast they weer flying towards it. Perhaps they were going to have some trouble landing, because if they tried ton land at their current speed, they might end up getting drastically hurt. At least, Tails would. Her body was weaker than his because she didn't regularly exercise. He always ran everywhere that he went unless he had to use some other mode of transportation, and he was running a lot, so he was in very good shape. Plus, with all of the huge falls that he had to withstand and all of the fighting that he had gone through, he was very durable. She was about as tough as a normal person would be when it came to getting hurt.

And when they came out, the fall was also huge. Tails looked down and she saw that they had ample time to react, so she moved away and began spinning her tails to slow her descent. Sonic angled himself and landed squarely on a platform that was floating above what looked like sky. He looked down at the sky below and he frowned. "Are we in a different realm, Tails?" he asked, looking up at her as she floated down.

She landed on the ground beside him and looked around. "I guess that we are. Perhaps this is the Chaos Emerald's effect? It used to be that Windy Valley was just that, a valley that wind blew through at a very strong rate. I don't remember it being all sky and stuff like that...with nothing around us to keep us from falling to our deaths if we do fall and there isn't a platform beneath us."

Sonic looked out across the way and noticed that there was a big chunk of ground floating near them. It was probably what the canyon used to be before it was turned into a floating chunk of rock by the Chaos Emerald. "Tails?" he asked, "Is the Chaos Emerald in this direction? If so, then we have the clearest way to go."

Tails pulled out her small radar and took a look before grinning and replying, "Yes it is, Sonic! Let's go!"

Sonic leaped to the large thing and began to dash along the side. Tails followed through the air, being that she was able to easily keep up with him by just flying after him. The path that Sonic was on now wound around the giant mass of earth, and he found himself leaping from rock to rock to keep going and not fall into pits. The rocks were small and unsteady, floating there simply because they were held up by wind. The wind, however, would not be strong enough to keep Sonic up if he fell down now.

Sonic was stopped dead in his tracks soon, however, by a gate that led out into nothingness. A path of leaves was there, kept up by wind, but Sonic didn't think that this was a feasible path. Tails landed beside him and she asked, "Why are you hesitating, Sonic?"

Sonic gave her an odd glance. "You think that this is actually going to be safe to cross, Tails?"

She frowned and asked, "What happened to the confident hedgehog that I remember? The one that would leap off of cliffs towards another one without taking consequences into mind? The one that would fight Eggman no matter what kind of evil thing that he had? Isn't this just the same?"

Sonic sighed and he said, "There's a difference between being couragous, and being stupid, Tails..."

The twin tailed fox crossed her arms and asked, "When did that ever stop you?"

Sonic shook his head and then he said, "Just be sure to catch me if I fall, Tails. You're going to have to if this doesn't work out."

Tails nodded as she watched the blue hedgehog gather himself and dash across the path. To his surprise, it held and he was easily able to dash across it and up to another series of platforms. This one would lead him across to another floating mass of earth that would lead them closer to the emerald. Tails was now following right behind him as he started across again.

Even as Sonic ran, he thought back to what Tails had just told him. Where had his daring side gone? Perhaps he had lost it when he had grown more mature? No, that would just sound like an excuse coming from him, and he knew it. He frowned and then he remembered why he had lost that side to him. It had been that, because he was daring, he had lost someone that he was trying to protect from certain death. His daring had gotten the better of him and he had gone all out, only to find that he had failed his duty of protecting the person by leading them right into the danger that was present.

He came back out of his memories just in time to see that he was heading for something that he didn't want to be heading towards. A tornado had came out of nowhere and was heading straight for the duo. Tails had stopped, or tried, but since she was in the air, she had nothing to grab onto. "SONIC!" she screamed as she started getting pulled towards the tornado. Sonic grabbed her and pulled her to the ground before he grabbed onto something that he hoped would.

To his horror, nothing that was there was actually stable when it came to the strong winds of the tornado. They were whisked away into the funnel of wind, and were tossed around and around until Sonic got his footing on a rock that was inside of the funnel. To him, this was all going in semi-slow motion, though he didn't know what effect it was having on his friend. "Tails, you hold on nice and tight. I'm going to get us out of here from the top of the tornado!"

And with that, he started off, heading into the tornado. He was easily leaping from rock to rock, heading upwards. Tails clung to him so tight that, to him, it felt like there was an iron claw gripping his body. After a while, it started hurting. "Just hold on..." he told her before suddenly making it out of the tornado, right through the eye. The view was breathtaking, but he didn't have long to think. Now they were on a series of platforms that were falling, and on one of them, was the Chaos Emerald.

"Alright, Tails, we're going to have to make a rush for that emerald if we are going to be able to get it within a feasible amount of time. I hope that you're ready for this..." Sonic told the twin tailed fox clinging to his back. She looked up and weakly nodded before burying her face against his back again. He turned and then began to carefully leap from platform to platform.

This was the tricky part. Since they were falling, one wrong move would mean that one of the platforms that he was on would spin, dumping him into the air where he would most likely be unable to retain control. And seeing as he had Tails who was too scared to really think, he couldn't screw up, because he wouldn't be able to rely on her capability to fly to save him at this point. He was really better off relying on his own skill, something that he was capable of doing.

The first leap wasn't that bad. The rock that he landed on was nice and large, meaning that it stayed steady despite his weight hitting it. The second leap about got him, landing him on a smaller rock that began to spin as soon as he hit it. He had to make a third leap out of reaction, landing on another rock that, fortunately, did not spin again. He took a deep breath and looked out at his destination, seeing now that if he did it right, he would only have to make four more leaps to get to it and nab it. Then, he could have Tails slow their descent before they hit the ground. Then again, was there ground at all anymore?

He didn't bother to check, for he'd rather not waste time finding that out. He leaped to a rock that began spinning again, but he had grabbed onto it to make sure that he could stay steady instead of falling off again. He waited on it until it's third time revolving, and then he kicked off of it and landed on top of the next rock, and then not wasting time, immediately bounced off towards another large rock. He steadied himself before preparing to make the final leap at the emerald, at which point Tails was beginning to look around, wondering where they were.

"Why aren't we in the tornado anymore, Sonic..?" she asked, looking around carefully. Sonic made the next leap without answering her and got the Chaos Emerald. Upon his hand grasping it, a bright light shone out and they found themselves standing at the entrance, or at least what once was the entrance to the Windy Valley. There was no more wind blowing. Windy Valley had vanished forever because of the removal of the Chaos Emerald. Tails smiled and said, "Hey, it's blue, too! My favorite color!"

Sonic said, "I think yellow would be mine..." he pocketed the emerald, and then noticed that Tails was blushing after his remark. "What?" he asked, not realizing why.

She shook her head as she turned around and she told him, "Oh...it's nothing, Sonic!"

He quirked an eyebrow before he shook his head and told her, "Alright then, Tails. Where's the next emerald?"

Happy to take her mind off of the fact that she had just gotten a big confirmation from Sonic that he liked her, she pulled out the emerald and studied it before she said, "I think our next best bet is inside of Station Square in...oh wow, in a casino! Casinopolis, to be exact!"

Sonic knew that place and frowned. "Must we go there now..? Ugh, that place annoys the hell out of me. But whatever, if another one of the Chaos Emeralds is there, and then we need to get moving before Eggman beats us to it. And if we're going to do that, we're going to need to take the train again."

Tails hugged him suddenly and said, "Don't you worry, Sonic. I'll sit by you so that way you don't have to endure the train ride without anyone sitting by ya."

Sonic smiled at her hugging him, but he shook away the thoughts that came to mind when he saw that he was being hugged by the female, twin-tailed fox. He said, "Well then, let's get moving, shall we?"

**I'm sorry for the delay. And, I'm sorry if this was a more uninteresting chapter, the next chapter shall be very different from the actual game...seeing as I don't want a chapter based entirely around a freaking casino! XD**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Miserable defeat

**Warning: This chapter really sucks. I had little inspiration to do this chapter...so, meh. DX The next chapters that I churn out should actually have QUALITY to them, instead of this lame thing that I have produced.**

As they arrived back in the city, Sonic took a moment to reflect on what had happened so far. The adventure had gone rather spontaneously, going from one point to the next, with him and his friend Tails in tow. He looked at the clock and also where the small camera had been, and he sighed before he began to leave. Tails followed after him, and she asked, "Something bothering you, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "Lots of things are bothering me, Tails. This entire thing with Chaos and Eggman is bothering me. Chaos seems a lot more able to destroy the entire world than Eggman ever could have been, even with his Death Egg that he didn't necessarily know how to use. And, did you notice how sadistic Eggman's become?"

The twin tailed fox nodded, gnawing a bit on her lower lip. "I don't know what to think of all of this, Sonic. Something's changed in him. Maybe a bit of his brain was damaged after that explosion, and it made him even more demented and evil? I don't know anymore."

They were now outside of the station and Tails pulled out her small radar again, deciding to take a look around and see what was there. The emerald was still in the same location as last time, and she zoomed out to find the casino in relation to where they were. "Alright, if we head through the hotel and out another one of the doors, we should arrive on a street that'll take us right to the casino. From there, we can just use your fame to get us that Chaos Emerald and get out."

Sonic shrugged and said, "Maybe. Maybe my fame will elude me like it almost did in the train station...with that one other guy that was heading the train tickets."

Tails placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Sonic, you know the person in there, don't you? Mr. Edelburg?" She was hoping that the notion would calm him down and allow him to think instead of being an emo over his fame catching up to him in a negative way.

Sonic's ears perked at the name and he turned to her and asked, "What about him? Are you saying that he runs Casinopolis?"

The fox brightened and nodded. "Yep! He does! He's been hoping that you'll turn up and try it out at some point! Since he's been head, he's made a number of improvements to it and it's become the most popular casino in the world! Well, okay, it's not _the _most popular, but still!"

A smirk crossed Sonic's face and he said, "That's going to make this far easier! He would understand if there were a crisis and just give over the Chaos Emerald for the time being and be done with it! Let's just hope that Eggman hasn't found this one already."

With that, the duo made their way through the confusing city streets, into the hotel that Sonic had been staying at, through one of the side doors, and headed to the casino. The front of Casinopolis was a sight to behold. Bright neon lights that were always active radiated orange and yellow outwards from the large sign above the sliding, glass doors. The name of the casino was placed right up against a red circle and was flashing for all to see right up against a huge orb in the back. It was a rather snazzy place, perhaps a bit too flashy for Tails' liking but it still looked pretty cool.

The inside was truly a sight. Inside, it was simply amazing. The first thing that almost anyone who walked in would find, was a huge, golden statue of Sonic, just standing there as if watching over the casino. On the second floor above them were a bust of a giant lion head and the paws, a pirate ship that had fake fires on it, and then some other banners and curtains for the games that were in the casino. The bottom floor was all slots machines, crap and poker and blackjack tables, roulette wheels, pinball games, the works for most any casino plus a few extras. Sonic looked for one figure that, to him, stood out from the rest, and finally found him standing in front of the great vault. People bustled about the duo as Sonic made his way to his old friend, and Tails managed to stay right behind him.

There he was, Sonic's friend, and had been ever since he had started his adventures against the evil Doctor Robotnik. He was an aging man, yet he still had brown hair, wasn't balding, and in no way looked like any signs of aging had started to catch up to him. He was wearing a brown business suit, complete with a Casinopolis tie as well as matching brown slacks and brown boots. His eyes were wandering about as he watched the people come and go, and then he happened to notice Sonic and Tails approaching. His eyes practically zeroed in on Sonic, and he called, "Well, if it isn't the famed Sonic the Hedgehog!"

The blue hedgehog stopped in front of the man and he said, "Good to see you again. Mr. Edelburg. I see that you're in just as great shape and as young looking as ever!"

Edelburg gave a nice, hearty sounding laugh as he shook his head. "Sonic, you haven't changed much over the years either. Tails, on the other hand, has seemed to become more adult seeming in her own ways."

The twin tailed vixen blushed and she turned away while Sonic rolled his eyes. "Anywho, Edelburg, we're here to claim the Chaos Emerald that we heard that you have here. Eggman is back and he's trying to get all of the emeralds for some master plan of his, and we need to get to them all beforehand."

This brought a frown to the aged man's face, and he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Sonic, you know that I can't just give away the Chaos Emerald, even to you in this apparent time of crisis! I could lose my business here!"

Sonic crossed his arms and he asked, "Do I need to get the mayor down here to explain everything? Or are we going to have to wait until Eggman comes busting in to try and claim the emerald to act as heroes and then get out with it ourselves?"

Edelburg sighed and shook his head. "Sonic the Hedgehog, you are the world's greatest hero. Everyone knows this, and they all owe something to you. However, there is something that just...well, it doesn't fit. The government has, apparently, placed something that you are to be treated as a normal citizen in all respects, despite your heroic acts. So, you might well be famous, but for all purposes, you are to be considered a normal, everyday citizen. That is the law, Sonic."

Sonic's eyes went wide as he heard this explanation, and he looked down at the ground. "Wait...but then, who would do that? That's so unreasonable for them to do that!"

Edelburg chuckled and said, "I know, Sonic! I know! For them to say that is a mockery to you, and they are failing to see that, if it had not been for you, this world might not even exist as it is today thanks to that maniacal mad scientist! Unfortunately, crisis or no, I would have to have permission from the government itself to just open up the vault and let you take the Chaos Emerald. Heck, I would need that kind of approval if you happened to win the games to get it! It's...it's just not going to be able to happen, Sonic. You know this as well as I do now, right?"

Tails was rolling over ideas in her head, however, and she smirked before saying, "I have an idea, you two! What if, say, the vault doors were left unattended and Sonic had to go in there to get it out, because an "unidentified thief" was in there going to take it?"

Edelburg ran that idea through his head as well and he said, "That's not a bad thought. Though I certainly have no clue who the unidentified person would be at this point, unless you've thought of that."

Sonic was about to open his mouth to speak, but then something happened that completely cut his words off. Something crashed into the casino, through the roof, and landed among the crowd. People went scattering and screaming, and Sonic saw a tall, humanoid robot stand up. It was plated with armor that was painted black, and it had green lights where the eyes would be as well as a gun for one of its hands. The legs also had wheels in the back, presumably for easier movement along the ground. It looked over at Edelburg and aimed its gun at him. "Open the vault," it said, the voice being monotone and electronic sounding.

Sonic smirked and he said, "You must be one of Eggman's robots, right? Well,seeing as you won't be able to win against us, why don't you just go and scram and tell your master that he's going to lose this race!"

It now turned to examine Sonic. "Target identified as, Sonic the Hedgehog. You are the prime evil in the good doctor's plans. You will die." However, before it had even moved its gun hand more than an inch, Sonic was right up next to it. He bounced upward and spun as he shot up, sending the machine falling back onto its back, sparks flying from the front. Sonic then performed his homing attack to slam into it and hit the core directly. He leaped away just as the robot exploded, sending pieces scattering everywhere.

"Well, that was most unexpected, Sonic! I had thought that you wouldn't just beat me here!" A voice called. Looking up, Sonic saw the egg mobile floating down into the casino. Eggman was just shaking his head as it came down and stopped at just a couple of inches above the ground. "Really, Sonic, I would have thought that if you were already here, you would have gotten the Chaos Emerald and would have just been on your way by now."

Sonic shrugged and said, "The military and the government here is complicating things, so...no, I haven't gotten it. However, I can stop you now and then get it still."

"Ha! So you'd think! Unforunately, today is not the day that I plan on killing you, Sonic!" Eggman said. What looked like two flamethrowers popped out, but instead of shooting flames, they shot out clouds of sleeping gas that enveloped all three of the people standing there. Tails was the first to succumb, as she had gasped when they shot out and gained a huge amount in her lungs. She collapsed, and then Sonic tried to hold his breath. Mr. Edelburg, however, fell on top of him and caused him to lose his breath. He had to breath in now, but that meant that he succumbed as well. "Darn you...E-Eggman..."

The last image that Sonic saw before he slipped into total darkness, was Eggman blowing open the vault and claiming the chaos emerald. Had Mr. Edelburg and the government not been in the way, this would have been one of the emeralds that Sonic could have saved. His last thoughts were how he had failed, miserably.

**This is long overdue, and probably sucks as a chapter. However, I promise to get back into the hang of things and start producing chapters again instead of just letting this one slip back into death valley. :P The next chapter SHOULD be interesting, I hope.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Knuckles' Emerald Shards

**I'm so sorry that I haven't had an update yet. The thing is...well, I've been trying to reformat my computer and get back up to speed. That, combined with the fact that I already have a lot of stuff going on due to college? Yeah...that's a real bummer on my end. DX I wish that it weren't so. I'm trying to catch all the way back up, but it's slow. I'll catch ya later, for now, just enjoy this chapter.**

_Back in time..._

The sun was shining in the city when Knuckles and Tikal finally arrived inside, with Knuckles gliding through the air and Tikal just following as a ball of light. The red echidna dropped down into the walkway in front of the train station, and he sighed. "Great...so this is where I'm going to have to find all of my emerald shards? At least, to begin with?" he asked, looking around. He had hated vast cities before, and this was no exception.

Tikal floated down beside him and she looked around the place before she said, "I'm afraid so, Knuckles. There should be four around here."

Knuckles stretched his stiff muscles and he sighed. "So basically a fifth of the Master Emerald is in this city, waiting for me to pick it up and move on. Well, that will be a nice start, but then where are the other segments?"

Tikal floated up into the sky, and as she did, she said, "I'll find that out while you're gathering your emerald shards. Remember, there are four here. Return once you have all four!"

With that, Knuckles was left alone in the city. He closed his eyes and focused, and found that he could sense the first one very close by. He was surprised and turned to where he could face it, and saw that it was probably right inside of a jewelry shop that had been established near the station. He groaned, not wanting to go and make trouble out of it. He finally got the guts to go and walk to the store; he planned on just taking the emerald and going without causing any immediate trouble.

He walked inside and was immediately greeted by a set of wind chimes clinking together. The noise attracted the attention of a young, blond haired woman with a pretty white dress on. "Hey, is there something that I can do for you?" she asked.

He hoped that nothing was going to happen, now that he had been caught by her. He cleared his throat and he said, "I would like to ask for a particular jewel shard of mine that has been placed here."

She giggled and said, "I'm sorry, but once they're in the shop, we verify if they belong to anyone. Any jewel that is here belongs to use until sold to someone or given away. There are no jewles here that could possibly belong to you."

He walked over to a display case within the store and he said, "What if I were to show you proof?" He was sure that he could prove to this woman that the shard of the Master Emerald that they had here belonged to him. It was sitting there, in the display case, shining brightly in the light.

The woman frowned and crossed her arms. "If you're going to be insistent that you can somehow prove that it belongs to you, you can get out of here. As it is, we have checked that gem over and over and over again for any indications that it came from somewhere or that someone originally owned it. There have been no such sources."

He put his hand against the glass pane and the shard pulled itself towards his hand, much to the woman's surprise. Then, it burned its way through the glass and was now in his hands. "If that's not proof enough, I don't know what is," he said, the hole now returning to normal with the shard's power.

She backed up in fear, pressing up against the wall. "Who are you to have such powers?" she asked.

The red echidna let out a sigh and he said, "I don't have the powers. This does. The only power that I have is the ability to find these through something of a sixth sense of mine."

The woman didn't respond now. Instead, she said to him, "Go. Please, just go! I don't want to have to explain to my employer about you, or have you explain it to him! Just be thankful that he doesn't know about this or that the emerald shard was ever there!"

Knuckles sighed as he put the shard into a pocket on his shorts. "I am sorry for the scare, miss. I wish that there was something I could do to make this better for you," the echidna said. He turned and opened the door and walked out of the shop, his eyes gazing at the ground. He got out along the sidewalk and walked out of sight of the shop before he ducked into an alley. "Good grief, what am I thinking?" he shouted out in anger. He was about ready to punch a hole into the wall.

Knuckles restrained himself and he let out a sigh. There was not a point in contemplating the scenario further. Instead, he turned and began scaling the wall, leaving the imprints of his spiked gloves in the building wall but nothing more. He reached the top and now closed his eyes, focusing on a trail that was in the air. It pointed him in the direction of a large hotel building. Curious, he began to traverse the city by leaping from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally stumbling but never falling off into the streets below.

He arrived on top of a building near the hotel and dropped back down into an an alley, hoping that no one witnessed him. He walked out of there, brushing dust off of his shorts and legs. He approached the doors and opened them, walking inside among a crowd of other humans and mobians all chatting. The noise in the lobby was beating against Knuckle's head, ready to drive him nuts.

He walked up some stairs and onto the first floor, where it was far more calm than it was in the lobby area. There, he relaxed in a corner and closed his eyes again, seeking that trail. Much to his horror, that trail was right down at the bottom, in the lobby. The reason why there were so many people was because they were all admiring the gem shard!

"How am I going to get that shard without making a giant scene?" he asked aloud, and he looked around the room. He heard a voice whispering to him, and he listened closely.

"Win a strength contest..." it whispered, and he thought quite a bit about that before he grinned. That would work to his advantage, especially if they were already doing that. He walked back down into the noise filled lobby, trying hard not to let the ambiance drive him insane. He pushed the crowd just in time to hear the crowd give a loud shout in cheer.

"One more contestant and if they lose, I claim this gem as my own! If they win, they take it as well as the money I'm staking!" a gruff voice shouted out, and there was another cheer. Knuckles had just pushed the crowd and managed to get up to the front. The man in front of him was very large and had a heavy build. He wore no shirt, was completely bald, and had a black beard. He was wearing black trousers that were ripped and torn at the shins.

The echidna got up on the stool that was there and he said, "I'll take you on."

The man grinned and asked, "So, are you willing to be humiliated?"

Knuckles smirked, and he asked, "Are you? If you get humiliated, will you be able to take it? I bet that you're going to run home crying to momma."

The crowd chuckled a bit, thinking that Knuckles was making a fool of himself. However, Knuckles knew that this guy could not match him in strength. The burly human said, "Best two out of three. Sound fair?"

The echidna nodded his head and now it was down to an arm wrestling match. They both got together and locked hands, and another person called out to start. Knuckles started and he immediately threw the human's hand down onto the table. The crowd let out a gasp of surprise, and the man had to shout, "I was unprepared for this kind of strength! Do not worry, he will not prevail!"

Knuckles' smirk only got bigger as they went for round two. This time, Knuckles just held him at bay, letting him think that he might be able to push his hand some. And the man tried as hard as he might, pushing against Knuckles arm with all of his strength. His muscles were straining and looked like they might pop at any second. Finally, the red echidna yawned and the male human gasped and stopped. "Are you about done? Oh? Good!" he said, slamming the human's hand into the desk so hard that it began to throb. The man pulled it off and gave a loud shout of pain, with the crowd staying mostly silent.

Broken bits of chatter started up and tags began to wag about how Knuckles had just beaten this very strong human. The man came back and he said, "This mobian echidna has won the prize of the gem, as well as the money!" There was scattered cheering.

Knuckles said, "I don't wish for the money. Only the gem." People gasped at this. Never before had they heard of someone either being selfless enough, or stupid enough not to take the money that was presented to them.

The man asked, "Are you absolutely sure on that, mr. echidna? What if I told you that you had to take all or none?" Now the people gave an offended sounding shout. That was an outrageous claim.

Knuckles crossed his arms and he asked, "Am I right in assuming that you're threatening me at this point? I have already won your stupid contest for the gem, and all I want is the gem that is actually mine. I don't care about your money."

The man was about to open his mouth when he saw that the crowd had all eyes on him. There was anger among them, their eyes were burning holes into him as they waited for his answer. He opened his mouth and said, "Fine. Take just the gem, then."

Knuckles took the green gem shard and the people around him began to clap and cheer. The people hadn't seen this kind of an act from anyone before now and it was a surprise to them. A lot of the people weren't even sure if they wanted to clap, but they were clapping because the people around them were. Knuckles walked out of the hotel and then went into an alleyway again. There, he climbed back up onto the rooftops and searched out his next trail.

The trails were clearer now because he was in possession of two of them. There were two distinct ones, and the stronger one pointed him back into the same building he had already been inside. However, that trail also pointed him towards one of the higher floors. He groaned, wondering why he had to go back inside of that dreaded building. "At least I won't be on that lobby floor," he muttered, leaping into the air and gliding into a room through an open window. He was fortunate that no one was inside as he walked through the empty apartment and left the room on the floor that he was supposed to be on to find his next shard.

This one was actually inside of a closed room and he sighed as he looked at the sign that said "occupied." He knew that this wasn't going to work out well for him now. Sneaking into someone's room wasn't something that he liked doing. He went back to the room that he had entered the building at and crawled around to where he was at the window. Unfortunately, that too was closed, but the blinds weren't shut. Looking inside, he found the shard laying on the bed, beside a girl who was sleeping. This made him feel even worse, though he then noticed that the way it was laying, it looked like it had been undisturbed. There was a patch where a hole had been melted into the window. He frowned and opened up the window, slipping inside. He quietly went over and took the shard, and then he left, being sure to close the window again. She wasn't going to be needing the shard, anyways.

The last trail now led him to a huge skyscraper, the tallest building in the entire city. This one had landed on top of it, so it was just a matter of scaling the building. However, most of it was glass. He would be noticed if he climbed up and wasn't careful. The last thing he wanted was to start trouble, so he now went down to the bottom floor to see if there was an elevator that would lead him up to the roof. There was an elevator, but it was not accessible to lobbyists. However, he didn't plan on being caught or attending the business here. When no one was looking, he slipped up and called the elevator. It just opened up for him, surprisingly. He stepped inside and pressed the button to go up to the roof. He then wondered...what kind of building wouldn't allow normal customers to go up certain floors and would block off the elevators entirely? Perhaps he was just not thinking straight, but he was sure that there was something ugly involved with that.

He didn't have the time to question it. He arrived at the roof and found what he was looking for lying on the ground in front of him. He grinned, picking it up and putting it in his bag along with the other three. He then breathed a sigh of relief, no longer detecting any traces or anything like that. However, his victory was nearly short lived. The other elevator in the set of twin elevators that he had ridden up on opened up and two security guards emerged. They thought they noticed a streak of red, but by the time that they looked over, they found nothing. Knuckles had leaped up into the air and glided through the air nice and quietly, right above their heads. He headed for the station and simply glided down to it. He caught Tikal high up in the sky and waved to her and waved her down. The light flew down with him to the sidewalks below and now she floated there before him.

"Did you retrieve all of the shards here, Knuckles?" she asked him, hoping that he had succeeded.

The red echidna nodded, bringing forth the glowing green jewels. Tikal looked over them and she smiled before saying, "Excellent! Now then, we should-" she was cut short when she heard a commotion going on nearby. A couple of people came out of the hotel, saying, "Oh my gosh, it's Doctor Robotnik!"

Knuckles knew the name well and growled. "What's he want?" he muttered, turning to face the entrance. He dashed over there, with Tikal following suit. There, he saw the doctor entering one of the rooms deeper inside of the hotel, and he chased him. "Where do you think you're going, you double crosser!" he called out, and Eggman turned before dashing inside

The room that they had both entered was a large circular room, with the large circle in the middle being something of a dance floor. It was mainly for dancing shows, with chairs all around the sides for people to eat their dinner. As Knuckles was about to catch up to the doctor, he saw water coming up around him. He bounced straight up just to avoid getting clobbered by Chaos as it formed up. He then shot down at it, his arms pointing down and his body spinning like a drill. He plowed into the water and scattered it all around again, and watched as it reformed in front of the doctor. He saw the strange skeleton with the chaos emerald in it and he frowned.

"So, it seems that it's gotten stronger since the last time I fought it," he muttered, but was now looking at the doctor as he began talking.

"You stupid echidna! When will you stop following me?" he asked, stomping his foot as hard as he could on the ground.

Knuckles grinned and pointed his fist at Eggman, saying, "You think that I'm going to magically forget how you double crossed me back on Angel Island and lied to me that entire time, idiot?"

To his surprise, the doctor seemed baffled. "What are you talking about? I don't recall anything of the sort!"

The red echidna just sat there, staring at the tall, egg-shaped man. His reaction had baffled him worse than even the doctor seemed now. "How the heck do you not recall that?" he asked, seeming quite confused now.

"What the heck are you talking about, you stupid echidna? You have been pursuing me even after I came through that damned time hole! Do you ever stop?" he shouted.

"Time hole...wait, what the heck are you talking about? There was no time hole, ever. I didn't see you coming through the time hole, this is the first time that I've seen you coming around in a long time," he said, blinking.

Then it dawned on Eggman. "Hey, wait, you aren't that one...what am I thinking, the one who is pursuing me is purple, and a female, anyways! Oh well, it does not matter. You attacked me, and so you shall pay for it! Chaos, kill this freaking echidna and make sure it's a bloody mess."

He threw the second chaos emerald into Chaos, and now a strange sort of "hat" formed on top of its head and the other arm now had a skeleton figure to it. Knuckles grinned and he said, "Throw all of the emeralds you want into the thing, I'll defeat it either way."

The creature now swung at him, almost as fast as he could swing. He barely dodged it and ran straight towards it, plowing his fist through the hat, or trying to. He found that it was much harder, as it the hat were more like a helmet that was trying to keep his fist from plowing through. He hit the membrane and shattered the creature, but then it formed into a condensed ball of water floated up before him. It began flinging itself at him, and the first two times connected. He was slammed in the face and knocked back a couple of paces and then hit in the stomach, nearly doubling him over. Then he threw his fist out and hit it right at the doctor, who had to dive into the seats to dodge it. It splashed against a pillar and then it formed back up into Chaos. It walked back out but wasn't prepared for the onslaught that awaited. It was hit in its membrane again, and it slid away and formed up, this time to find no sign of Knuckles.

It looked everywhere, even up! But where Knuckles came from wasn't anything it might have thought of. He came up from below and slammed himself through Chaos and made it splash all over. It tried to form into the condensed ball again, and flung itself at him, but he grabbed it and performed a pile drive with it, scattering it once again. This time, Chaos didn't come back up. It was too badly hurt from the sudden onslaught.

Eggman walked out and he asked, "What is this? How did you defeat it? Only Sonic ever could have, and he's currently asleep along with that strange fox girl Tails! I mean, I thought he was a boy! Shows what I know..."

"What the heck are you talking about? Have you lost your mind, Robotnik!" the red echidna called out, still giving a rather blank stare to the doctor.

Eggman shook his head and said, "Bah, it's not like it matters. Wait, I know you! You're Knuckles the Echidna! I forgot that you still existed in this time line!"

By now, Knuckles was so confused by the way that the crazy scientist was talking that he didn't know which way was left and right, so to speak. "Ugh! Why are you speaking like that! It makes no sense! You are not from a different time...oh wait, didn't Sonic originally kill you?"

"Sonic killed my other self in this time line! Huh! That would explain why I haven't been able to get any contact with him! It all makes sense now!" he said, and then he laughed. "Well, that means I have even less complications to deal with now! Good-bye, pin head!" A brilliant flash occurred and blinded Knuckles immediately, and then when his vision cleared, neither Chaos nor the doctor were there.

Tikal floated up beside him and asked, "What was he talking about?"

The red echidna shook his head and said, "No clue, but whatever it was, I guess that Sonic and Tails have to know about it. If he's from a different time...then...what does that implicate..."

**Strange, eh? I hope that no one minds. And, yes, this chapter is LONG overdue. Gosh, I've been so busy with college work that I have little time to do any writing of my own. Ugh...hate that. Anywho, enjoy and expect some more to come.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: The polar ice caps/Tails' feelings

**Some character development here**

It had been nearly half a day now since the incident that Sonic and Tails encountered with the doctor. They were on a train again, Tails still rubbing her head because she had a splitting headache. "I do not appreciate what just happened back there," she muttered, rubbing her temples. Her tails were resting in Sonic's lap at the moment, though Sonic didn't seem to care. He too was having to deal with the same sort of headache.

The blue hedgehog commented, "I hadn't expected to be blindsided so badly..."

Tails replied, "I don't think either of us were at that moment. I wonder how he found out that we were even there."

The train came to a slow stop and he said, "We have to get going now. Where does that radar of yours say the next one is again?"

The twin tailed vixen stood up and she began to slowly move off of the train. She didn't answer Sonic's question at first, at least not until they had stepped off of the train. She then pointed up to the newly formed snowy mountains up in the distance and she muttered, "We have to go there."

Sonic's gaze followed her finger and he just looked at the new mountains. "What the heck? Those didn't used to be there."

Tails shrugged and said, "Maybe Angel Island has crashed? That's about the only thing that I can think of that would cause that."

Sonic gave her a strange look and he asked, "Why would it fall again? Knuckles told us that the island would only fall if the Master Emerald was removed. And we got it back in time as well to keep the island from crashing and becoming one with the ground below that one time..."

Tails didn't reply again as they walked down the stairs. She was too busy with other thoughts now, thoughts that had been buzzing in her head for quite a while. At the bottom, Sonic repeated the question, which goaded out her answer, "I'm just making a guess, Sonic. I hope that I'm not right. But anyways, we have to get some warmer clothes as well as some climbing equipment if we want to scale those peaks."

It was two hours later that they were scaling one of the mountains of the icy peaks. Both were dressed in heavy layers and were outfitted with ropes and picks to climb up the ice. However, Tails was getting weary of the climb rather fast. Soon, she called, "Sonic, can we stop soon? My arms feel like they're going to give way, and we're too close for me to safely fly."

The blue hedgehog turned to her with concern. "I didn't know that you would get that tired. Haven't you been doing any working out?" Sonic asked her, and she managed to get up beside him, breathing hard.

"Yes, but this is extremely difficult. I don't get it," she muttered, now resting up against him for security. As she felt his warmth, she began to get nice and comfortable, briefly forgetting the trouble that they were in. Sonic smiled and let her rest there, not knowing what thoughts were going through her head.

The vixen looked the blue hedgehog in the eye now, and held that gaze for a few seconds before she took a breath and asked, "Isn't this strange? We've been together for so long that we trust each other a lot, yet we haven't gone farther than that."

Sonic was confused by her change of tone. He hadn't heard her talk like that to him or even heard her saying something like that before. "What do you mean?" he asked her, holding her just below her chest.

She realized what she was talking about suddenly and forced herself to stop. She looked confused and she asked, "What was I just talking about?"

The blue hedgehog shrugged and then he asked, "You feeling better now that you've rested a little?" He began to gently nudge her back into her own spot. She found her placing again and she smiled and nodded to him. Both continued up again for a while and then Tails felt sore again. This time, her arms felt like gelatin and she lost her control over them. Sonic had to catch her before she fell, and he held her against the mountain. "Geez…are you alright?" he asked her.

Tails just gazed into the sky. "Sonic…c-can you carry me the rest of the way? I think I'm falling asleep up here, I don't know why. Maybe I'm not used to the pressure changes that are going on?"

Sonic had to admit that he was feeling rather strange from all of this as well. He had been through so many pressure changes that he was used to it. Tails had always flown rather low. She didn't go this high, even in her plane. She used to be able to just fine, but it was wearing on her now. The blue hedgehog sighed and was about to say something when she shook herself awake again.

"Sonic, I think that my body is slowly remembering how to deal with the lower pressures…" she muttered, her vision now crystal clear. She grabbed onto her picks again with renewed strength.

The blue hedgehog grinned and said, "You haven't been doing this for a while so it makes sense. Your body is just trying to remember how to cope with it. You're certainly recovering faster than most normal mobians or humans would. I've heard that those other normal people actually need special machines that help their body adapt to the pressure so that they don't get sick from it."

Tails grinned and she said, "I've heard of that as well. I guess that I'm just a rare case."

Sonic smiled and stroked her hair, causing blood to rush to her face. She turned away so that he wouldn't see how red she was. "Something wrong?" he asked her, concerned that something about what he had been doing was wrong.

Tails shook her head and said, "I'm fine, Sonic!" In her mind, however, she was going over what Sonic had done and what it implied. Perhaps it meant that he had the same feelings for her as she had for him? Or was it just a sisterly thing that he was doing it for. Either way, it had felt really nice to her. Focusing again, she began to start when a bolt of lightning, summoned from nowhere, struck the mountain top.

A sound like a rifle shot echoed from where they were, followed by several more. "The ice is breaking! Whatever caused that is going to cause an avalanche! Tails, we're going to have to drop on our skateboards at a much earlier time than we anticipated, I think!" Sonic shouted about the noise.

Tails clicked a button on her belt and two boards came out and shaped up before them. Their ropes detached and now Sonic saw the ice coming down at them as well as the snow. "NOW!" Sonic shouted as they dropped onto their boards and shot down the near vertical slope of the mountain and veered left to get to the valley where the emerald lay. That had been their original intent, but now they were taking chances with the avalanche.

Sonic helped her keep a straight path so that they shot down at a blinding speed, outracing the avalanche behind them. Soon, Tails said, "I can see it! A green gleam down in that valley!"

Sonic nodded and then he said, "We're going to have to jump! Get ready, because once we're at the bottom there, that's when we're going to do it!"

"Help me, Sonic!" she said, afraid of not doing the jump in time. She found that she was relying on him more than she ever had. It was something that she knew that she shouldn't do, but she couldn't help it. Her old self was returning, the dependant side of her. It had been ever since he showed up again.

Sonic grabbed her by the arm, understanding what she was afraid of, and then he helped her leap right at the moment that he was wanting, and they flew away from the mountain and the avalanche, souring through the air. They landed in the clearing with the emerald and now he helped her skid to a stop right before it. She got off of her board and she picked it up, smiling as she held it up. "There we go, now we're even with the bad doctor," she declared.

Sonic grinned and he nodded. "About time, though I think we should think about getting out of here before the avalanche gets us," Sonic said, looking over as the white flood rushed towards them. Tails grabbed his hands and she flew them out of the way, and back down towards the main area of the Mystic Ruins. With the much warmer climate around them, Tails felt a lot better, and now also felt very stuffy. She took off most of her layers, leaving herself only in jeans and a red bra. Sonic blushed upon seeing her in the bra.

Tails noticed and she giggled. "You like, huh?" she asked.

Sonic could only nod. He was back in his t-shirt and black pants, but he hadn't thought Tails would go quite so far with the undressing. He was about to make a comment when a sinister voice rang out, "So, how did the exploring go? I gather that you've made progress for me, Sonic?"

It was Robotnik, floating out over the fields. He was grinning deviously at them. Sonic got into a battle stance and he said, "They're not for you, Eggman!" he was about to step forward when Chaos appeared in a puddle and punched both him and Tails together, knocking them back into a wall. Before they could recover, both were briefly splashed over before then being launched forward. Chaos now had their chaos emeralds inside of itself, and had formed into a large, floating fish-like being. Eggman laughed and both Tails and Sonic stared in horror. Neither of them had imagined that Chaos was as strong already as that…and now that he had four of them, who could know how strong he was at this point.

**Update chapter! Yay! I hope you enjoy!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Chaos Four

**This has been a terrible delay for me. What, with writing issues and the like? Yeah, meh, excuses on my part. I'm horrible. DX Please accept this addition so that I can get this thing moving again.**

Sonic and Tails both made their way down the mountain, hoping to find something that was there that would guide them to the next Chaos Emerald. However, they were not prepared for what awaited them down at the base, near the main waterfall at the very entrance to the jungle in the Mystic Ruins. There they stopped, Tails taking a glance at her radar before she said, "There's one in the jungle, Sonic. But...there are two right by us!"

The blue hedgehog turned and crossed his arms, confused by what that meant. "Two? Wait..." he said before realizing what that implicated. He looked around for the familiar shape of Eggman, along with Chaos. Sonic spotted him trying to hide amongst the leaves in one of the sparse trees that littered the area. "Hey, come out, you big fat retard!" he called out.

The doctor was obviously shocked that he had been spotted. He sat there for a couple of seconds before angrily shouting, "How did you know I was here?"

Tails chuckled a bit at his surprise behavior and she said, "You really think that you did that good of a job hiding a large, silver egg mobile up in a tree that is mostly green and brown?"

The doctor floated out from the cover of the tree, what little cover it offered. He growled in dismay as the two watched him come out. "You two really are much sharper than the last time I encountered you. It's rather strange, to say the very least!"

"That's because you used sleeping gas in a very enclosed environment. What, have you run out of that gas to get us with?" Sonic asked, crouching low and getting ready to leap at Eggman.

The doctor noticed this and he grinned. "I wouldn't recommend jumping from there. You might just end up getting all watered down!"

Sonic grinned and he asked, "Is that your way of hinting that Chaos is waiting for me to make a move?" he heard some water behind him and he turned around just in time to see the thing forming. He saw that it now had two chaos emeralds and it still resembled the form that Knuckles had fought some time ago. It threw its fists out at both Sonic and Tails, but it missed both of them entirely. Sonic had grabbed Tails and brought her out of the way just in time. However, what Sonic did not see coming was that Eggman knew how to work with Chaos' mistake. He was suddenly struck by a laser that surrounded his body in paralyzing electricity. He dropped to the ground, his body shuddering uncontrollably.

The emeralds dropped out of his pockets and Chaos was quick to snatch them before aiming a punch at Sonic. It never came, for Tails ran at it and hurled herself through it in a balled up form, causing it to splatter all over the place. A part of Chaos landed on Sonic and channeled the electricity off of the hedgehog's body by just enough to cancel the effect and let Sonic recover. He quickly spun himself on the ground to fling the water off, and then watched Chaos reform, this time with four chaos emeralds instead of just two.

Much to their surprise, it transformed into a resemblance of a very large fish, complete with the glowing green eyes and the membrane. It had a skeleton in it that held the chaos emeralds. The skeleton itself was made of a strange, very metallic looking material. Eggman burst out laughing suddenly, getting Sonic's attention as he shouted, "Now you're doomed, Sonic!

The water creature noticed that Sonic's head turned, so it went to make a move right towards him. Sonic noticed Chaos moving out of the corner of his eye. He barely managed to leap upwards to dodge a piledrive, in which Chaos had hoped to crush him into the ground under its weight. Tails had leaped aside as well, just to give Chaos a wide berth. After Chaos recovered and found that Sonic was still up and about, it turned around in time to see the hedgehog hurtling towards it, almost in contact.

It made every effort that it could to move aside, but it acted too late. Sonic blasted straight through it and hit the pink, floating membrane and scattered the creature. Chaos, by now, was getting very annoyed each time that it split apart, for it would have to reform. It was not getting seriously hurt, but it was growing weaker with each hit that it received. It was just beginning to reform when Tails shot through it from the other side. Now, it was enraged. It had two people against it, and Eggman did not seem to be helping him at all. He would not have cared so much if it were just Sonic that it was dealing with. It turned to Robotnik, expecting the scientist to do something.

The doctor saw this and he asked, "What, Chaos? What am I supposed to do about these pests! My egg mobile doesn't have anything in the category of weaponry!"

Chaos reformed now and then it dropped to the ground to avoid Tails and then it swiped and hit Sonic along his side, flinging him into a tree. It turned to counter Tails, whom it did not see. "Chaos, above you!" Eggman called. Chaos' eyes turned upwards in time to see a yellow blur. Too late, it realized that this twin tailed vixen could fly! She dropped straight through and hit the membrane again, scattering Chaos once again. By now, the water creature was already having great trouble reforming itself thanks to the assault. It came back in time to see both charging it. If swiped its half shaped tail and hit them both, sending them rolling. It chased after when another object hit it. The third object, strangely enough, was the doctor's egg mobile.

For a moment, Chaos felt betrayed. It thought now that Doctor Robotnik himself had decided to attack it. Then it realized that the trajectory was far too fast for the doctor to have done that. Also, the mobile was upside down at the time. It dawned on him that his mobile had been thrown. Chaos' brain sought the solution to this, wondering what could have thrown it and where. It then dawned on Chaos that the only person capable of slinging the mobile like that was a certain red echidna.

One that Chaos very distinctly remembered and had a deep hatred for now.

Its eyes turned to see the red echidna, Knuckles, standing there and watching Chaos with a huge grin on his face. Both Sonic and Tails turned to see their old friend and rival, who turned to them and pointed one of his thumbs up into the air. "Knuckles! Thank goodness you showed up when you did! Chaos is going to start making mincemeat out of us at this point!"

Knuckles shook his head and he asked, "Sonic, are you having trouble with this beast? Even with four chaos emeralds, it's still a wimp!"

Chaos now leaped towards Knuckles, planning on killing the offending fiend that had decided to return and rudely interrupt a battle. It underestimated Knuckles strength and speed, for even as a snake will lunge towards its foe and be caught by a stick put into its path, so Chaos glided forward and was rudely stopped by a powerful punch delivered right to its face. The powerful wave that rocked its body was enough to hit the membrane enough to where it dissolved into a puddle. That was the last straw for it, for past this point, it could only barely reform. One last hit and it would mean a sort of death for it. Chaos instead just drifted away and vanished, out of sight.

Eggman had watched the final thing develop and he was livid, his face going red with rage as blood boiled up into it. "You! How could you come back and intervene, you bastard echidna? What did I ever do to you?"

"What else besides trick me for the past few times?" the red echidna asked, pointing at Robotnik. "You've caused us a heck of a lot of trouble of late. It is time for you to actually die down now, Eggman!"

"Me? Give up? You must really think that you are something if you think that words are going to make me give up! I have something to show you. It is something that I have kept hidden for quite some time, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna!" Eggman shouted before moving his egg mobile up.

A strange silence overtook Sonic and his friends as Sonic came upon a realization. Either Eggman had completely gone off his nut or something else was amiss. "Tails...wasn't your real first name...Kim?"

The twin tailed kitsune nodded and then she whispered, "You think that this guy has gone off his nut, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog shrugged and then he said, "Either that, or something is up. I do remember killing an Eggman...perhaps this is a guy from some alternate place through dimensions and the like?"

Then, something appeared above them, out of the clouds, that took away their breaths. The very first thing that Sonic noticed was that it was huge, taking up most of their vision of the sky with its massive bulk. It was a long, board-shaped structure with huge engines in the very back as well as a cone at the very tip. The bottom was made of titanium alloy all across it and seemed to be riddled with loading bays for planes and robots. It was colored gray and red all over and had Robotnik's insignia, an impression of his face, painted in yellow on the wings that were attached to the side.

"Behold my masterpiece! The master of the skies and the clouds! The Egg Carrier!" Robotnik cried out, laughing maniacally. He then said, "It features a cannon capable of causing as much destruction as an atomic bomb, impentrable armor, high powered defense mechanisms, the works! But it pales in comparison to the true power that Chaos will achieve when I have all seven chaos emeralds!"

The blue hedgehog called out, "When did you get this? You couldn't have built that in a few short years!"

Eggman laughed again and he said, "You underestimate me, Sonic. Besides, I had more than a few short years to work on it in secret!"

Tails now stepped up and she called, "You are not from this world, are you?"

Eggman halted, as if he had been caught. "How did you figure that one out?"

Sonic grinned and he said, "It's because you told us, Eggman! So...you're from a different dimension, eh? Hmm...that explains why you are so stupid and weak as compared to the one that I killed in space before."

Again, Robotnik's face went red as he turned to Sonic. "Listen, you stupid little hedgehog! I have an IQ of 300! I have more than enough materials to build what I like in whatever time I need! I am far smarter and superior to the Eggman that this world had! You'll see! I'll destroy you, Sonic! Just like I destroyed you in my dimension!" He then laughed as he flew up to the Egg Carrier, a tractor beam of sorts tugging his mobile in. Then, the giant ship turned around, surprisingly fast for something as huge as it was. In total, Sonic counted the seconds as five seconds for a complete, one-hundred-eighty degree turn. It then began to soar off into the distance, leaving them in the dust.

Sonic said, "Tails, let's get to your workshop and fire up the Tornado! We're taking this fight right to the bad doctor himself! Knuckles, you coming?"

The red echidna grinned but then he shook his head. "Sorry, Sonic. No can do. I have quite a few emerald shards to find and pick up. I already managed to quickly pick up a number more back in the city before heading here," he explained. "And now I can sense some in the mountains."

The blue hedgehog nodded and he said, "Alright, then. Good luck! I hope we'll meet you again, Knux!" With that, he and Tails turned and ran to the workshop to get the Tornado ready.

Tikal floated down next to Knuckles and she said, "Again, another impressive display from you. You're quite fit to be the guardian of the Master Emerald."

The red echidna turned his gaze to the mountains and he said, "I'm not a guardian anymore, not until I retrieve all the pieces to the emerald and put it back together. Now, let's make that happen!"

**Ugh, again, way overdue. Sorry for the major delay in this.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Chasing the Egg Carrier. Take 1

**Not a large chapter, but it is something that will move the plot forward.**

Sonic and Tails raced back to the workshop, hoping to get into the Tornado and take off after Robotnik's giant cruiser before it got too far out. However, neither of them were really looking forward to trying to take it down. From Eggman's just brief description of it, finding a weak point and taking out all of the defenses that were scattered across it was what they were going to be tasked with. And it was no easy task. For Sonic, that task for them would rate on a difficulty of nine-point-five out of ten. Ten, for him, was the virtually impossible.

Tails reached the door to her workshop and she looked at it before she took a deep breath and she asked, "Sonic, are you ready for this?"

The blue hedgehog nodded and he said, "This is going to be just like the past...with that old Eggman and not this new bozo."

The twin tailed fox opened up the door and she said, "Go wait on the runway. I'm going to be bringing the plane out fast." She then closed the door and dashed to her plane. Sonic went to where the runway would appear and he smirked, watching as it began to unfold.

Outside of the garage, it was simply what appeared to be a straight cliff with tall palm trees lining it. To a casual viewer, it would at first not appear to harbor any sort of runway. However, the palm trees started to move to the side on platforms, showing that they were actually false ones that Tails had put up. Then, the ground slid aside to reveal a paved runway that was elevated to be level with the garage. The doors opened, showing Tails starting to bring the plane along the runway.

Sonic's pride and joy was a red biplane with twin machine guns mounted on on the bottom right beneath the propeller. It was very fast, about as fast as Sonic was, but it did happen to lack maneuverability. However, Sonic figured that such a thing was not going to a problem. This new Eggman certainly did not seem bright enough to be that large of a problem.

Sonic hopped on and got onto the back, near the tail. This was, of late, one of his preferred positions when on these small planes. He had such extraordinary balance that he could easily stay there, and he could adjust easily even if the plane were to start spinning through the air. Tails glanced back at him and she asked, "You ready, Sonic? We're going to take the fight directly to him this time."

Sonic nodded and he said, "I'm greatly looking forward to it, Tails! Now then, let's get moving!" With that, Tails put the plane on full throttle, getting it moving across the runway. It then lifted off the runway and shot out into the deep blue sky. It was a cloudless day, meaning that finding the Egg Carrier was not that difficult. However, getting to it would be the main problem. Even as he watched it coming closer and closer, he was beginning to feel quite nervous about this offensive.

Soon, they were close enough that they could easily see the ship before them. Tails' sharp eyes caught some dots coming out from the bottom and she said, "Get ready, Sonic. We've got incoming fighter planes!"

Sonic now noticed the specks that were slowly growing larger as they approached the single biplane that was approaching the Egg Carrier. Sonic got ready for some major action, as did Tails. The planes were yellow on the bottom with blue around the top. However, they did not seem to be flown by anyone. It looked like they were controlling themselves, or being remotely controlled by some giant computer or something.

As they got closer, they began to fire small energy pellets at the Tornado. Tails deftly turned the plane so that the pellets missed and then she opened fire with the machine guns, catching two of the planes along their wings and making them unstable. The planes, not able to handle that, immediately began to spiral downwards. The third plane among this first wave was Sonic's game. He flung himself off of the plane and kicked off of one of the wings hard enough to send the plane spinning at a faster rate than it could control. This one too began to spiral downwards. Sonic easily landed back on the Tornado, this time in the middle of the wings.

Both Tails and Sonic could now see at least thirty of these specks approaching them. Tails said, "I don't think that we have enough firepower to do this, Sonic!"

Sonic thought for a moment before he said, "Do your best, Tails! Give them the best marksmanship that you have!"

The twin tailed fox nodded and then she began to strafe left to the left, taking precise single shots. Sonic watched as she shot and several of the specks began to fly down. Then, she strafed to the right, doing the same. She took at least twenty-seven of the thirty, but three managed to reach them and were going to ram into the plane. They didn't expect Sonic to act.

They were coming at the plane in a the pattern of an upside down triangle, deviously set up to ram right into them no matter how Tails moved the plane. Sonic took action, leaping towards to the bottom on and kicking his foot into the cockpit before leaping up as the plane caught fire in the computer filled cockpit and spiraled downwards. He then bounced between the other two planes and knocked them aside with cracks going through the planes. He caught onto the tail fin of the plane and hauled himself onto the tail again.

By now, they were close enough to get up past the engines of the Egg Carrier and to get over the top of it. The moment that they flew over it, Tails was greeted with a nasty surprise. The top was covered in cannons and turrets. All of them turned around and attempted to lock-on to the plane and shoot it down, shooting huge payloads of missiles. Tails very narrowly averted her course to avoid the barrage of missiles. Fortunately for her, they were not homing missiles. She did a quick strafing run following the narrow missile avoidance, and she tore the turrets and cannons apart. She flew along the side and found a similar encounter. This time, she was ready and had already taken down around half of them before they fired at her. She slipped aside again and did another strafing run to take the rest out along that side.

She said, "I hope that Eggman won't be missing those!"

Sonic let out a sly chuckle at her comment and then he said, "Man, if he does, then he's quite out of luck, don't you think?"

Tails nodded to this and then she continued her flight. She flew along to the front of the ship and flew out ahead of it, not remembering the mention of a giant laser. Sonic didn't think about it, or he would have noticed that something was wrong with their trajectory. He realized moments too lat what was going on. "Tails, I think that we-" he said before a giant blue beam blasted past their plane and shore off one of the wings!

The plane began to spiral out of Tails' control. She could not keep it from going into the dreaded death spiral. "Sonic!" she called out in a high, shrill shriek. Sonic held on and tried to get to her, but the spin was too much. It flung him off of the plane, away from Tails...Tails did her best to get out and managed to escape from the plane and did her best to spin her tails to slow her descent...the last thing that either of them saw of each other was that they were both falling away from a crashing plane, as the Egg Carrier passed overhead.

**Plot twist from the actual game, I know. I'm lame like that. But at least its a chapter, right? **


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Separated/Twinkle Park Triple Trouble

**And so it begins, the addition of new characters is starting to come around as well. The latest one shall be E-102 gamma, as he was one of the latest in the game. Stay tuned...my writing is going to become gradually finished here.**

**PS: I'm going to write an official clothing thing for the characters so that, when I go away, those images are fresh in my memory. This starts here, so if any of the clothes have accidentally changed somehow, I apologize…I'm trying. I honestly am. :(**

Sonic fell for what felt like forever. How he was falling so far and so far away, he had relatively little idea. The last thing he remembered before briefly blacking out was another blast destroying the plane entirely and sending him and Tails apart from each other. Were they apart? He couldn't remember. He then looked and noticed the ground of a beach was coming straight towards him. Instinctively, he tucked into a ball and slammed into the ground with extreme force, making a crater about ten feet in diameter where he landed. He then rolled out of his ball form, every part of his body hurting from the impact.

"Oh…man…" he groaned, starting to slowly stand up. He was aching everywhere now. He was sure that no bones were broken, but then he could also be wrong about that and most of his bones could be. But then, why didn't it hurt even more to move? That cancelled that thought of broken bones out.

"Sonic?" he heard a very familiar, feminine voice ask. No, it was not Tails. He opened his eyes and saw a bright flash of natural pink hair. Green eyes were staring at him in concern. It was a hedgehog girl wearing a bright, white t-shirt and jean shorts. She also wore tennis shoes that were white on the top with white laces and had red outlines and soles.

"Amy?" he asked, standing up in surprise. "Sis? Is that really you?" he asked the pink hedgehog, who gave a squeal of delight.

"Sonic! You're back!" she cried, leaping forward and grabbing him in a tight hug. The blue hedgehog gave a grunt as he was very nearly tackled over by his sister, whom he had not seen in a very long time. Amy let go and she said, "I've missed you! Where have you been?"

The blue hedgehog stepped back a bit and he said, "I've been in the city for a little while. I was trying to stop Eggman."

This confused Amy. "Wait, how is he alive? You killed him in space up above Mobius," she asked, vividly remembering Sonic's description of what happened.

"That one is not alive anymore. This is a brand new guy, someone that we haven't seen before," he said, looking up into the sky. "Though he is still Eggman. He's just…he said he was from a different dimension."

The pink hedgehog looked around a bit and then she asked, "A different dimension? You mean that he came from a world similar to ours?"

"Apparently, he killed us all from that world," Sonic said, dusting off his dark green jacket before stepping out of the crater that he had formed from his fall. It was evening in the city, with the sun slowly slipping down beyond the horizon.

Amy stepped out of the crater as well and she began to look around before she noticed something on the beach behind them. She gasped and said, "Sonic, behind us!"

The blue hedgehog spun around and he fixed his gaze on an Eggman robot. This one was far different from any others that he had seen up to this point. It was painted a dark green, had a bucket shaped head as well as very rounded arms. It was hovering in the air and it looked specifically meant to intimidate and capture. He grinned and he said, "No problem…I can-" he stopped, noticing that Amy was no longer there. She was running back to the hotel that was connected to the beach. "AMY!" he shouted back before turning and darting after her. The robot proceeded to follow both of them, more intent on Amy than it was Sonic.

The blue hedgehog then noticed something. There was a blue bird that was hovering by Amy's head. He recognized it as a Flicky…then he thought about how strange it was that the bird was here. The Flickies lived on their own island far out to sea in Mobius. One of the Eggman robots that was meant to impersonate the original had been there trying to capture them all and use them for some diabolical purpose. The seven Chaos emeralds had, again, saved Sonic in that instance.

He did not have time to question it, for it seemed that his sister had grown quite a bit faster since he last saw her. She was running at about half his speed, which was still a good deal over a normal person's speed. He ran alongside her and he asked, "Amy, what's the bird doing around your head?"

Amy looked at it and then she replied, "It's a bird that came falling from a giant, metal cruiser. I have never seen anything like it…a giant metal ship that could fly. At least, not like that thing. The last thing that I saw that could fly was a giant floating egg…"

Sonic nodded and then he said, "It does not surprise me too much. I've seen an airship before, but never quite like the one that Eggman has. It's a flying battle fortress."

Then, Amy saw something in the distance. "Sonic, we're going to have to hide from the robot!"

"I can take it out, Amy. It isn't that big of a-" Sonic started but was again interrupted because Amy was in too much of a hurry to get going with her plan.

She said, "There is an amusement park, named Twinkle Park, up ahead! We can go in there and hide, and since we appear as a cute couple, we can get in free and not have to worry about anything!"

Sonic groaned and he said, "Amy, if you would just listen, I can take out that robot."

She frowned and she said, "I don't care! You're doing what I have said, whether you like it or not! And even if you don't come with me, I am still going in there!" that was just the way Amy was. If she was dead set on an opinion, she would go for it no matter what. She would even come up with some lame excuses just so that she could stick to her plan. Unless it was completely proven wrong, there was no way to talk her out of it.

Sonic had no choice. Amy was going to go into Twinkle Park to hide from the robot that Sonic could easily destroy in a matter of seconds. She was not going to take "no" for an answer. She also was going to put herself in danger if Sonic did not follow her into the park, which was something he would not tolerate himself to let happen. He sighed as he stuck with her until they reached a fancy looking entrance lit by noble gas lights of all various colors. There was an elevator that led up inside of a glass hall which would then take them into the amusement park.

The blue hedgehog remembered this place now and he groaned. The last time that he had came here when he was younger, he had hated the place. He had taken the castle of illusions, which had terrified him and his sister when they were kids. He did not remember the exact date when that had occurred, but he certainly never forgot the place. Yes, the name had eluded him, but now that he saw it, all of those memories were coming back.

"Well, since I am older now, I doubt that I will have to worry much about being scared of this place again," he muttered to himself before they arrived at the reception desk.

"Hello there! Are you a new couple going to be-Oh! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!" the lady at the desk exclaimed. She was a white bat girl who was amazed that Sonic and his "girlfriend" had just wandered into Twinkle Park. "Well, never mind any kind of fee. Not only are you both cute together, but Sonic, you're a world hero! It's simply right that I let you in, free of charge!"

Sonic was surprised by the woman's reaction. As the door opened up automatically for them without Amy or Sonic having to pay even a quarter out of their pockets, Sonic actually felt good again for being a hero. It was a momentary glimpse of happiness that surged through him, but Amy interrupted it by saying, "Come on, Sonic! Let's go before that robot finds us here!"

She dashed in and left the blue hedgehog standing there for a moment before he let out a sigh of disgust as he charged in after her. From where they were, there several rooms to enter. One would lead them to a place with hover car racing, one led to a roller coaster, and two others both led to game rooms with pinball tables and some air hockey. Sonic then noticed one of the doors which led to the castle of illusion. It had been renamed as "The Castle of Mirrors". Memories came rushing back to him when he thought of the glass halls that he and Amy got stuck in for a long time.

"Amy, maybe we can lose the robot in the Mirror Castle!" Sonic said, pointing to the door. It was time to face the thing again, this time as an adult. Maybe even make a mess of it if he could. The robot was going to be there any second now and they had no time to lose. Amy immediately took charge and dashed through that door. It led to a roller coaster ride that immediately shot out into a room lit up like it was the night sky all around them. The castle entrance, with a pool right outside of it filled with fish, was lit up bright enough that it felt like daylight. However, Sonic knew that the inside was not going to be as lit.

As they arrived at a stop, Sonic saw the robot on the tracks, trying to follow them. However, it fell down, and was plummeting straight down to an area right by the lake. "Amy, we have to hurry!" he said, taking her wrist and helping her run to the castle entrance. They arrived at the open entrance just as the robot crashed onto the ground and bounced a bit, thanks to its frame. It seemed very sturdy for the falls, but it did not look terribly hard to destroy if Sonic used his speed. But this was Amy's call and he could not chance her to danger with her running off and hiding while another robot doubled around and nabbed her.

He heard no sign of the robot chasing them. That was a good sign. He looked ahead and now they found themselves running through a hallway into the main section of Twinkle Park. At this point in time, it was normal that not many people went here except at night where they were the best scared. It was only just turning to night outside when he had arrived, so it would not be the prime time yet for many people. When they arrived, they could see some people in the room, but not really a huge mass.

They dashed into the mirrors, sometimes running into them in their haste, but overall they were attempting to hide from the robot. They got into the middle of the giant and infamous room of mirrors, right where they had gotten lost among them. This time, it was not a bad thing. The mirrors proved a safe haven for them at the moment. The robot was going to crash in and not be able to find them hiding among the mirrors, or so was their hope.

The robot did crash into the room and stopped. It looked around at the mirrors, seeming confused. A holographic question mark appeared above its head as it looked around the room at all of its different reflections. Sonic resisted a chuckle, watching it through one of the mirrors. However, something happened that he did not at all anticipate.

It threw its fist at one of the mirrors and shattered it. This brought about a massive chain reaction with all of the glass mirrors beginning to break and shatter. People began to scream and run, covering their heads in hopes that the glass shards would not kill them. Sonic grabbed Amy and dashed through the hall to the other end. He had started too late, though, and he was soon buried in glass. He struggled bit by bit and just managed to get out of it. He saw the robot coming straight for him, having noticed where he was when he fell among the glass shards.

"You stupid…robot! You broke thousands of dollars, maybe even millions worth, of glass! I'm going to destroy you now!" he shouted, but then he noticed it launching its hand at him, or at his side. He smirked and stepped aside, but only too late did he realize what it was actually grabbing for.

With a shriek, Amy was pulled towards the robot and ended up its giant hand. Sonic stared in horror as his sister was held up into the air, with the robot triumphant in snatching its prey. "No!" he shouted, leaping forward to tackle the robot. However, it had turned and leaped with a rocket booster attached to its bottom half, and blasted out through the ceiling. Furious, Sonic ran towards the wall and then up along the wall and the roof until he reached the hole and swung through it. He found himself on top of the castle, right near the black and star patterned ceiling of Twinkle Park. There was another hole directly above him, leading outside. With great effort, he made the leap outside and looked around in desperation. However, he had been too slow in his efforts to stop the robot and he had made a horrible slip up when he dodged its "attack." He had lost Amy to a minion of this new Eggman…

**Stay tuned for more! I plan on writing until I finish this darned thing!**


End file.
